The Kiss
by Ca1piggy
Summary: What if. What if the most pivotal moment in Danmachi resulted in a 'yes' instead of a 'no'. This BellxAis story follows this fateful decision to its logical conclusion. I do not own Danmachi
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - What If...**

There she lay by Bell's side, the most beautiful girl with golden hair napping after a training session.

Zeus in Bell's head "Kiss her, it is a man's romance"

Hestia in Bell's head "Noooooooo, I did not train you to be that type of boy"

The nervous Bell leaned over Ais captured by her beauty and grace.

'Sleeping' Ais "Wa..."

Before Ais finished her protest, Bell slipped and fell on Ais, while his lips touched Ais' lips. Immediately, both their wide-open eyes stared right into each other. However, neither withdrew from the tender kiss. As if time stopped, the kiss went on until Ais closed her eyes. Bell realized that he committed a serious taboo decided to face the music. He pulled himself up.

Tomato-faced Bell "Ais, I am so sorry. I could not help myself"

Tomato-faced Ais "That is ok. I liked it Bell"

After the encouragement, there were a few more kisses. Watching from afar, Freya's heart was breaking.

Nevertheless, the training must go on, and go on it did with the same or even higher intensity. Lap pillowing continued also, though Ais did get a kiss in to wake up Bell each time. At the end of training, they hugged and kissed more. They were hungry and went for some food, and of course ran into Hestia selling Jagamarukun. Hestia immediately noticed the good mood between the two, and yelled at Bell the cheater. However, Hestia did allow the two to continue training. As they walked together, the Freya familia attacked the party and warned Ais to back off, but backed off after Bell used a no-chant firebolt.

The next day, training went on again under Hestia's watchful eyes. The intensity was equally high. When Hestia had to leave, the romance continued with more lap pillowing and more tender kisses. When Bell finally managed to defend and counter-attack, Ais realized that she did what she could. After holding each other for a long hug and a couple more kisses, they parted ways as Ais had to ready for the 59th floor expedition to face Revis and what secrets there lie.

On the day the 59th floor expedition started, Ais' travel group headed down the dungeon. A couple of injured adventurers ran towards them screaming minotaur. After talking to the injured, the Loki executives figured out there was a minotaur on the 9th floor and a boy with white hair was being attacked. Ais' mind went crazy and with the word 'tempest', she went at warp speed down the dungeon to save Bell. The Loki executives put Raul in charge and chased after Ais, who was stopped by Ottar trying to delay the sword princess. However, Ais got through when Tiona and Bete joined the battle.

When Ais saw Bell lying on the ground, she checked that her love was alive. As she was ready to turn the minotaur into grounded beef, Bell held her back and insisted on fighting himself. Following the rules of the dungeon, Ais had to allow it, but she kept her sword at the ready. By that time, Tiona, Bete and the rest of the Loki executives arrived to see the battle. To their shock, Bell battled the minotaur like an experienced adventurer and eventually defeated the minotaur. While Tiona and Tione were acting like fan girls, Ais ran to check on the mind-zero Bell.

Ais hugged Bell with tears in her eyes "Bell, are you alright". Monitoring from the Babel, Freya went from pure joy to absolute frustration.

Seeing this, Riveria and Finn gave each other knowing looks in their eyes while Tiona, Tione and Bete were in complete shock.

Bete in disgust "He went from zero to hero in 1 month. And he got the girl too."

Tiona and Tione went to comfort Ais telling her that Bell will be ok. At which point, they decided to carry the injured Lili and the mind-zero Bell back to the surface. After Riveria and Ais delivered Bell and Lili to Hestia, they returned to rejoin the expedition. Deciding that this was not the right time for a mother-daughter talk, Riveria decided to wait until after the expedition.

After the defeat of the demi-spirit on the 59th floor with Ais as the spearhead, the Loki familia stopped at the 18th floor to take care of the injured. While regrouping, they heard someone crashing down to the 18th floor escaping the 17th floor boss. Ais went to check and found Bell injured along with Lili and Welf. After carrying the injured group to her camp, Ais was nervously watching over the unconscious Bell. When Bell woke up, Ais took Bell to meet the Loki executives.

Finn, Riveria and Gareth went to great extents to make the nervous boy comfortable. They could clearly see how he changed the sword princess to a young teenage girl in puppy love, and they were not about to ruin things for their princess. Tiona and Tione also joined in and they went to check out the argonaut who captured their sister's heart. Poor Lefiya was beside herself realizing it was too late.

After spending a day on the 18th floor, Ais' group left for the surface, while Bell's group was staying for one more day after Hestia and Hermes made their grand entrance to the 18th floor. Unfortunately, a jealous Mord's attack on Bell and Hestia resulted in Hestia releasing her divine powers, which in turn triggered the dungeon to spawn the Black Goliath. As a result, the adventurers worked together to battle the floor boss.

When the Loki group reached the 9th floor, they felt the tremors caused by the spawning of the Black Goliath. Like a crazed warrior, Ais activated arial and headed again towards the 18th floor. Finn looked at Riveria with their knowing looks. They then gave orders for the rest of the group to return to the surface while Gareth. Finn, Riveria, Tiona, Tione and Bete chased after Ais. When they reached the 18th floor, they witnessed the heroics of Ryuu, Welf and Asfi. Realizing the irregular Black Goliath was regenerating, they knew the situation was very dangerous. As they got ready to join the battle, they saw Ais heading in full arial towards the monster. But then to everyone's shock, Bell launched his hero's strike that won the day.

Seeing that Bell defeated the monster, Ais flew right to Bell to check on him. Bell was glad to see Ais and she kissed him on the spot. Everyone was shocked, particularly Hestia and Lili. When the rest of the Loki executives reached Bell and Ais, they congratulated him but gave Ais the freedom to accompany her hero. Thus the Loki executives headed back up again to the surface feeling like parents that just gave their daughter away...

Hestia and Lili were both devastated, but it was a done deal. In tears, Hestia and Lili congratulated Bell and gave him his time with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Freya went from absolute ecstasy to heartbreak monitoring from the Babel.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - A Marriage of Convenience**

After Bell's hero strike took out the Black Goliath, Ais went to her hero. Seeing the happy couple, the Loki executives gave the princess time and headed back home without Ais. Upon arrival, they told Loki about the threat of Revis and demi-spirit threat to Orario. When Loki asked where Ais was, they sat her down and told the story. The devastated Loki was in disbelief.

Loki "You tell me an inexperienced adventurer was able to beat a minotaur after 1 month, and then then took out a level 5 irregular regenerating goliath after another week? And now he swept Ais off her feet, riding off to the sunset?"

Finn "It's true. Hermes was serious when he said Bell will become the hero of the age"

Riveria "Ais really likes him. We saw the battles with our own eyes. He is unique."

Finn "Loki, Ais has her life, but it is affecting expeditions. She took off to save Bell on two separate occasions."

Loki "Ais disobeyed twice? What level is he now?"

Riveria "We all heard he is level 2 now, but I think he will soon be level 3 after the goliath."

Finn "We cannot separate Ais from Bell"

Riveria "Ais is totally distracted. This endangers her and everyone. With this new threat, we cannot afford this"

Loki "I need to have a talk with Hestia."

After Bell's group returned to the surface, there was a lot of rumors about Bell's stunning victory against the goliath. With the reputation came trouble, as Bell's group was attacked by Hyakinthos and the Apollo familia in a restaurant. While Bete was there to break things up, something was up.

During a party, Apollo showed his hand, challenging Hestia to a war game to take away Bell. To help Bell, Mikoto, Welf and Lili joined the Hestia familia, and Hermes recruited Ryuu to join Bell's side in the game. Ais wanted to join Bell's group. But Loki asked her to only train Bell and allow Bell a chance to win by himself. Loki did promise Ais that she would not allow Apollo to actually to take Bell no matter what happened. Riveria did get a special amulet to protect Bell from Hyakinthos' main attack spell. This level of interaction between the two familias was causing Freya much further unhappiness...

During the war games, Ryuu took out 50 enemies while Mikoto performed a suicide strike against another large group. This left Bell and Welf to storm the castle, as facilitated by Lili who disguised herself as a member of the Apollo familia. After Bell used an argonaut-charged firebolt to blow up a portion of the castle, the final battle with Hyakinthoos was on. While his first firebolt was interrupted by Cassandra, his second firebolt only weakened the level 3 enemy's magic. Fortunately, the amulet from Loki was able to prevent Bell from being knock out, and he defeated Hyakinthos with an argonaut-charged punch.

Hestia and Loki watched the war game together at the Loki home. Like two feuding in-laws, they had to bury the hatchet. While they were making nice, Ais and the rest of the familia watched the battle intently. With Bell's victory over the enormous Apollo familia, Ais was very happy while Tiona congratulated her. Bete was impressed enough to head back to the dungeon to take out his frustrations.

The victory allowed Hestia to take hold of all the holdings of the Apollo familia including their mansion. A celebration was held there for the victorious team, which the Loki executives attended. During the celebration, Loki and Hestia made an announcement. The two familias will now make joint expeditions, showing the amount of compromise made by the 2 goddess.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - The Model of Cooperation**

The relationship between Ais and Bell forced Hestia and Loki to bury the hatchet and work together. After watching the war games together, the two discussed expeditions.

Loki "I care about Ais and want her to be happy. And we really need to make this work because their emotions are putting my entire team in danger. It is endangering your familia too"

Hestia "As much as I hated losing Bell to Ais, the fat lady has sung. I want Bell to be happy even if I am crying. Flatsy, we now must work together. We need to stop our cat fights."

Loki winked "Yea, still can have our private sessions."

Loki "Fighting together is the only way that allows them to protect each other without disrupting expeditions.

Hestia "That sounds good, but my other children are years away from reaching level 3.

Loki "I know, but Finn is an amazing strategist. He will figure out something"

With the war game celebration at the new Hestia home, their allies came to party. Beyond the victory, Bell's record-breaking level 3 advancement was another big news. Kicking things off, the joint expeditions were announced, surprising most in attendance. Everyone was wondering how would the Loki familia's level 5 and 6 adventurers work with the Hestia familia.

The familias got down to business the next day and a reasonable arrangement was figured out.

Finn "It is too dangerous for someone below level 3 to go in the deep level adventures."

Bell "But I cannot abandon my familia"

Riveria "What if we limit level 1 and 2 to the 20th floor in joint expeditions. If we go deeper, then one of our level 4 can stay with the junior group."

Hestia "That sounds good"

Bell "And we could still do short expeditions in the upper levels?"

Ais "I want to go on those too."

Loki "Ais, that is fine. Just avoiding surprises, and the best way is to have you and Bell together in expeditions"

Lili "Bell-sama, I feel like a burden"

Gareth "No burden, this will work"

Welf "I will do whatever works for the group"

Mikoto "Me too. I also do not want to be a burden"

Hestia to her familia "Thank you everyone, we will make this work"

Finn "There should be joint training also. We need to learn to fight together"

Riveria "Bell, we will throw everything at you in training. These deep levels are dangerous"

Bete "Bell, be sure I will not be holding back"

Bell bows to everyone "Thank you, I will be in all your care"

Thus a consensus was reached. First, some junior Loki members may adventure with Hestia members no deeper than level 20. When Ais is able to join in, the limit is extended to level 28. Second, on deeper expeditions, all members below level 3 will not travel past level 20. And one level 4 Loki member will stay with the junior members while Bell will always travel with Ais down to the deeper levels. Third, new unexplored areas will be treated as deep explorations.

With ground rules set, the 2 familias started training together. Bell also started the intense sessions with Loki executives, typically resulting on Ais' lap pillow. On non-dungeon days, Ais will spar with him in the mornings. The afternoon sessions with individual Loki executives were really helping, as confirmed by Hestia's nightly updates.

From afar, Freya was upset.

Freya "Ottar, you need to stop this"

Ottar "Any action now will start a war"

Freya "Not acceptable"

Ottar "Lady Freya, I do not have a solution..."

Poor Freya knew the fat lady has sung, but she kept watching and hoping.

The alliance really boosted morale at the Hestia home, but Bell, Lili and Welf noticed something was wrong with Mikoto. They then followed her sneaking out late going to the Entertainment District where the brothels were. As they followed, Bell became separated from Lili and Welf and ran into Aisha and several Ishtar familiar Amazonesses who tried to seduce him. Running away, Bell eventually hid in a brothel and ended up in Haruhime's room. The inexperienced prostitute tried to undress Bell but fainted from embarrassment. After she recovered, they ended up instead talking about hero stories and fairy tales.

When Bell got home, he found out that Haruhime is a friend of Mikoto and she wanted to save Haruhime from the brothels. Bell decided to help Mikoto after they learned about the killing stone ritual and the risk to a baby renard like Haruhime.

Unfortunately, Bell was noticed by Ishtar who charmed Hermes into spilling the beans about Bell. After finding out how important Bell was to Freya, Ishtar realized this was a great chance to get revenge on Freya by taking Bell for her own. By setting a trick quest, Ishtar managed to kidnap Bell.

The kidnapping had major consequences. A furious Freya sent her familia to destroy the Ishtar familia. Ais was equally angry and headed towards the Entertainment District with killing intent. The end result was devastating. Freya personally sent Ishtar back to heaven. Meanwhile, the attacks from the Freya familia freed Bell, and Bell immediately fought and defeated Aisha to save Haruhime from the killing stone ritual. Afterwards, Haruhime helped Bell beat up several Ishtar members by using Uchide no Kozuchi to boost him to level 4 or higher. With the boosting and recent training, Bell even battled the level 5 Phryne to a draw. When Ais arrived, they quickly defeated Phryne and other amazonesses and returned home. When the Freya familia got their turn, Phryne was beaten nearly to death. Expressing their goddess' anger, the Freya familia left half of the Entertainment District destroyed.

Hestia met with Haruhime after her rescue and agreed to take her her in. After finding out about Haruhime's level boosting magic, Hestia and Loki called another meeting to consider the huge opportunity and the enormous burden.

Loki "This level boosting is unbelievable and important. But she is an inexperienced level 1."

Haruhime "The Ishtar familia took me on deep level missions but kept me safe in an armored box"

Bell "There has to be a better way"

Finn "We can assign Tione, Tiona or another level 6 to guard Haruhime. This way we can also allow Lefiya to focus on spell casting"

Riveria "That makes sense"

Lefiya "I dont want to be a burden either"

Loki "Not a burden, but team concept. The demi-spirit threat must be eliminated"

Bell "Asfi created these hats that allow the user to be really invisible."

Hestia "Yes I saw this in action. It worked very well"

Loki "Hestia and I will go talk to Hermes. If he wants Bell to be the hero, he should help."

With the step decided, the 2 goddess went to Hermes and Asfi. Hermes grudgingly agreed, but he required a steep price from Loki and Hestia, who kept it a secret.

With the addition of Haruhime, joint training was challenging. However, the ability to boost a critical member was such an advantage. After a couple practices, it was decided that Haruhime would also wear a cow-bell.


	4. Chapters 4 to 6

**Chapter 4 - First Joint Mission**

With the addition of the invisible girl, training became more complicated but more fun as the guys had to feel their way around. A cow-bell was also added to Haruhime's gear to help with coordination.

As training was ongoing, Loki and Hestia met with Hermes and Dionysus. While discussing the demi-spirit threat, they guessed there may be a 2nd dungeon entrance for smuggling monsters to the surface. Eventually, they decided that the Hermes familia would search the city and the Loki familia would check on Melen and its underwater entrance. Thus, the first mission was launched with the Loki executives, Bell and Haruhime going to Melen while Raul and the junior adventurers took on a quest in the dungeon.

Before they left, Welf presented Loki with 2 magic swords as additional contributions from the Hestia familia, which delighted everyone. Welf decided it was more important to help his friends and wanted to additional protection for Haruhime. So Tiona kept the fire sword while Tione kept the ice sword, while Haruhime also received a lighnting short sword.

After arriving at Melen, Tiona and Tione dived to check on the underwater dungeon entrance, which was still closed. However, they did find and destroyed a couple violas underwater. At the same time, Bell, Ais, Haruhime, Lefiya and Bete went to check on the sewers and found them still sealed with gates. As the searches went on, Gareth, Loki and Hestia went to the local guild to check on monster sightings. Though nothing unusual was reported, the guild wanted them to remove the Kali familia. Meanwhile Finn and Riveria walked around town to check what the citizens have seen. Puzzled by the lack of any sightings after Tiona and Tione encountering 2 violas, they decided to find Njord the fisherman god, who also said no violas. With nothing making sense, a more thorough investigation was carried out.

Finally, Tiona, Tione, Bell, Haruhime and Ais ran into Kali captains Bache and Argana, who had violas attack them at the harbor. Tiona and Tione went to battle Bache and Argana while Ais and Bell dealt with the violas. The battle between the Amazonesses was pretty even, but Ais and Bell quickly dealt with the violas. With the combat ongoing, Haruhime took advantage to don the Hades Cap per her training. After the violas were destroyed, additional amazonesses showed up to fight Bell and Ais. Unfortunately, Ais had some trouble as her magic was sealed with a curse. Nevertheless, they defeated the newcomers as Bell was fighting at a higher level. By then Bache and Argana were starting to push back Tiona and Tione. Thus Bell rushed the Amazoneses while charging argonaut. The 20 second argonaut infused firebolt surprised Bache due to no-chant action and destroyed her weapon. With one fighting without a weapon, the 2 Bali captains were defeated, tied up and questioned.

From the questioning, a link between Ishtar, Bali and Ikleos was exposed. Now that Ishtar was sent back to heaven and Bali members were captured, Ikleos must be dealt with. When the rest of the team heard the fighting, they converged on the harbor area where the prisoners were held. A manhunt was also conducted to find Bali, who was quickly captured and questioned.

Loki "Do you want to go back to heaven?"

Bali "Please don't kill me"

Hestia "Where did the violas come from"

Bali "I will tell you if you let me stay"

Hestia "We have a deal"

Bali "They were brought from Orario. Bache and Argana already told you that Ikelos was responsible for the smuggling."

Finn "Why?"

Bali "Rare monsters are worth a lot."

Riveria "How are they getting monsters out of the dungeon?"

Bali "There is at least another dungeon entrance in the city but I dont know where"

Having confirmed their theory, the team headed back to Orario. Hestia was quite pleased to learn that Bell dealt the strike that disarmed the level 6 Bache. The mission also validated the Haruhime plan in battle.

Ais was still feeling a bit tired from the curse, so enjoyed a piggy-back ride from Bell. Even when Ais wanted the horsey go a bit faster, Hestia still held her tongue but the jealousy was boiling over a bit. Noticing the raw emotions, Loki teased her a bit and the two had a little cat fight on the way back.

 **Chapter 5 - Trap**

From questioning the Bali familia, a link between Ishtar, Bali and Ikleos was exposed. Now that Ishtar was sent back to heaven and Bali members were captured, Ikleos must be dealt with. The team thus headed back to Orario to help look for another dungeon entrance.

Upon their arrival, they met with Hermes, whose familia was unable to find the entrance. It was then decided that the Loki familia, Bell, Haruhime and Filvis would focus on Daedalus Street and the sewers. While the female members searched Daedalus Street, the male members searched the sewers, finding a secret staircase after Bete's keen senses detected Violas. At the end of the stairs, they found a door made of Orichalcum.

Having found the likely entrance, the team got ready for battle. Haruhime went to the rear and put on the Hades Hat. They tried to open the door but it was too strong. So Gareth searched for a good spot to use earth raid to burrow through. After a lot of hard work, they entered the Knossos and split into two teams to search while Riveria, Loki, Hestia and junior reserves stayed outside.

The team of Finn, Bell, Ais, Bete, Haruhime and Raul went in one direction while Gareth, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya and Filvis searched the other way. Unfortunately it was a trap. Valleta from the Thanatos familia sent a large number of violas to attack them. While they were destroying the violas, Revis opened a trap door and stabbed Finn. Seeing Finn go down, Ais and Bell went after Revis while Bete took care of the violas. At the same time, Raul dragged Finn from the battle and desperately poured potions on him, but Revis used a cursed dagger.

Revis was stronger than Bell and Ais, and quickly managed to stab Ais with her long sword. Seeing Ais injured, Bell immediately used firebolt even though the argonaut charging only went on for 30 seconds. The no-cast firebolt surprised Revis, but only caused a small injury. That did buy time for the invisible Haruhime to pour potions on Ais and cast her magic. That was fortunate as Bell's battle against Revis was not going well. She stabbed him twice and was throwing him around like a rag doll. Ais quickly rejoined the battle, allowing Haruhime to pour a potion on Bell. The boosted Ais was able to gain an upper hand on the battle, causing Revis to comment that Aria was full of surprises. With Bell recovered, he started charging while watching the princess push back Revis. Understanding that Revis had a magic stone, Bell wanted a longer charge. After 2 minutes, Bell jumped in but could not use firebolt without risking Ais. Finally, Ais finally got a good cut on Revis, who jumped away from Ais. This was the opportunity Bell was waiting for. The argonaut firebolt hit Revis though she managed to dodge enough so that her magic stone was not hit. Severely injured, Revis managed to escape through a trap door. With Finn in bad shape, they decided not to give chase but to attend to Finn. The deep wound from the cursed blade did not heal, so they brought Finn back outside to be taken to the hospital. Realizing this was a trap, they headed back in to help the other group, but without Haruhime as it was just too dangerous.

The Gareth group encountered Barca of the Thanatos familia, who activated a trap door beneath the group. Inside the labyrinth, the Gareth team was attacked by various traps activated by Barca and Thanatos in a control room. First, it was a large number of violas, then poison vermis, and assassins with curses, then evilus members and their kaenseki suicide attacks. Suffering and fighting through the traps, they reached a circular laboratory room with numerous pipes and broken flasks inside. While searching the room, a demi spirit crashed through the walls...

In the meantime, Lefiya and Filvis became separated from the rest of the group. They saw Ein and followed him to a door. Following Ein, they entered a room and was surprised when they were discovered by Thanatos who was waiting for them with Ein. The god of death explained the reason why he hated falnas was because it reduce deaths, and how some gods became evil to create heros out of boredom. However, when more Thanatos members entered, Filvis used Dio Thyrsos to allow them to escape from the group.

As Bell, Ais and Bete searched for the Gareth group, they found the trap door used to drop them into the labyrinth. While many of the traps have activated, Bete still took the lead to protect Bell and Ais from the poisons and remaining traps. Realizing the level boost would soon run out, Ais called for the biggest wind she has ever invoked and succeeded in defeating Barca's remaining traps. Continuing their search, they heard the huge crash caused by the demi spirit and rushed towards the noise. At that point, Gareth, Tione and Tiona were being attacked by the demi spirit. Even though they managed to injured it, the monster got angry and activated an arial-like wind to push them back. After that, its magic hoofs caused a shockwave that threw them hard against a wall.

Seeing their friends in peril, Bell shot off another argonaut firebolt that was charged for 3 minutes. While the demi spirit's body was armored, the magic damaged two legs, which made it unable to walk or stomp. Bete, Tiona, Tione and Gareth then jumped in and slayed the monster. With all the argonaut shots, Bell was near mind-zero, and the group decided that they have done enough. They already destroyed the traps, and the main enemy had long since fled.

Before leaving, Ais did see the broken down laboratory and felt the jewel fetus presence in a broken flask. With 7 broken flasks, they wondered what happened to the other fetuses. The entire group did managed to get out of the Knossos alive, but Finn was already taken to the hospital. With all their injuries, everyone also headed to the hospital after Gareth sealed up the opening in the ground that he created.

Fortunately, Finn was cured, and everyone else also recovered. As Bell awoke in the hospital the next morning, Hestia and Ais congratulated him as he reached level 4. Hestia also told Bell that they will take a short break after the ordeal while the Hermes and Ganesha familias have been tasked with exploring the ruins of the traps and laboratory rooms of the Knossos.

 **Chapter 6 - Good Surprises**

After the Knossos battle, Hestia and Loki decided on a short break. With a couple off-days, Bell and Ais were able to relax together a bit in town. They wanted the relationship to remain private so they do not get to enjoy holding hands in public. However, they did enjoy eating out and hanging out with friends at the hostess of fertility.

On the next day, a response to Ares and Rakia's march to Orario was needed. Most familias had a role in the defense of the city, but due to Orario's superiority, life continued mostly as usual. Loki familia members were in the front lines, but Hestia members had no role in the battle. Nevertheless, Bell joined Ais in the battle, but the enemy ran in fear whenever they saw the sword princess. On learning that Mars had kidnapped Hestia, Bell and Ais went to rescue her. During the rescue, Hestia accidental fell into a river. Bell jumped in to save her, and Ais followed despite her fear of water. They ended up in Edas Village for a few days while Hestia recovered. Bell and Ais got to enjoy dancing in a village festival, where dancing together meant becoming a couple.

When they returned to the Hestia home, they found Haruhime talking to Aisha who was holding an old book. Later on, they found out that the old book was a grimoire for a spell called kokonoe. Apparently Aisha took the grimoire without telling her new familia, but it was too late by the time Haruhime open the book.

After the Rakia incident, a meeting was held to discuss the demi spirit threat at the Loki home.

Finn "Thanks for saving me in the Knossos. Hermes has since confirmed 7 empty flasks in that laboratory"

Loki "So we took out one more demi spirit, but there is probably 6 remaining."

Riveria "Their actions are clearly targeting Orario, but they already told us that"

Lefiya "Thanatos said he disliked falnas because it reduced the number of deaths"

Hestia doing a face palm "So they want to destroy the entire system"

Loki "Well Ishtar is gone. Bali has been captured, but Ikelos and Thanatos remain hidden."

Finn "So, Ikelos is smuggling rare monsters to make profit. Thanatos wants to destroy the system. We have hybrid humans like Revis and perhaps more. Then Enyo may be the one with the power to create the hybrids. And Enyo appears to be located below the 59th floor, perhaps a lot deeper"

Ais "By eating magic stones, Revis can gain power quickly. The first time we fought when I was level 5, she beat me. After level 6, I had the big advantage, but then she beat me the next time. After Haruhime boosted my level, I had a small advantage."

Loki "It is disturbing how fast Revis is growing. Although she will need magic stones from even more powerful monsters to continue this pace. But no one knows what lies below the 59th floor"

Riveria "Bell, we heard you are now level 4.?

Hestia proudly "Yes and he has a new development ability in Ox Slayer too"

Tione "Well that demi-spirit was like a bull"

Embarrassed Bell "Yes, Hestia updated me in the hospital."

Finn "Congrats Bell. I hope Revis cannot grow as fast as you. But Revis is already fighting at Ottar's level."

Ais "Well I had a slight advantage so I think Ottar is still stronger"

Finn "We need to prepare in the ways we can. Let's train for a few days and see what our new level 4 can do"

Bell "I will be in all your care"

Haruhime "I need to report something important"

Hestia "What happened?"

Haruhime then told the group about how Aisha took a grimoire from the Hermes familia and told her it was a fairy tale. By the time she opened the book, it was too late.

Haruhime "I am sorry this happened, but I did not know. The kokonoe spell does increase my number of tails"

Bete ROTFLOL "So there are more tails to play with LOL"

Haruhime "It magnifies my spell power by the number of tails"

Loki "Holy cow, you have more level boosting power?"

Haruhime "I can have 5 tails now and I can boost 5 people at once. I get really dizzy though"

The entire group jumped when they realized what she said.

Hestia "Haruhime, you do not need to feel bad. This was certainly meant for you."

Finn "I am sure Hermes wanted you to have it. He is only being clever. Don't worry"

Loki "The Hestia familia is always full of surprises. Let's tried it out!"

The group went to an open field to try Haruhime's kokonoe. Haruhime activated her 5 tails and used the magic to boost Bell, Ais, Tiona, Tione and Gareth. With the huge surge in power, the group witnessed Bell and 4 level 7 fighters battling with each other.

As if Hestia and Loki read each other's mind "Haruhime cannot go into the dungeon without extra protection."

Finn "Ok, at least Bell, Ais and another 6th level."

Riveria "The short expeditions will be limited to level 25 instead of 28."

Welf "I have enough material for another goliath robe for her"

Hestia "I will go talk to Hermes and to get a spare Hades Hat"

Loki winked "Hestia, go enjoy", which drew an dirty look from Hestia.

Over the next 2 days, the group tried boosting different members and the leveling helped both fighting and magic casting.

While level boosting tests were ongoing, Bell and Ais used the time to explore ways to use argonaut with the Hestia knife. An interesting technique combined firebolt, argonaut and the Hestia knife, resulting in a longer blade of fire. The first time it impacted with Ais' weapon, it knocked a surprised Ais down. Happy with the results, Ais wanted Bell to master the technique named argo vesta, but Bell refused to test it on Ais again. Instead they decided on a short trip to the dungeon.

That afternoon, Bell showed Finn, Bete, Tiona and Tione the new technique. While Bete wanted to test himself against the flaming blade, Finn forbid such a risk but agreed that Bell and Ais should try it in the mid levels of the dungeon. So a quest for gathering crab shells, fish fins and fish fangs on the 25th level was selected.


	5. Chapter 7 to 10

**Chapter 7 - Different Type of Monsters**

The next day, Bell and Ais started their expedition with Bete, Lili, Haruhime, Welf, Mikoto and Riine. They got to the 18th safe level without too much trouble and spent the night near Rivira. However, the later floors were more difficult for the junior members. Bell, Bete and Ais had to handle the large number of deadly hornets, which gave Bell a good opportunity to try out argo vesta. After a dozen hornets, Bell got better at the technique, though he only did minimal charging to save his energy.

When they reached the paradise of water on the 25th level, they started searching for the quest items. However, they noticed an injured adventurer that turned out to be Luvis. Before they had the chance to ask Luvis what happened, a large humanoid moss huge led a pass parade towards them. The team then sprang right into action. As planned, Bete became Haruhime's personal protector while Ais guarded against the pass parade. At the same time, Bell headed straight for the enemy.

The moss huge was extremely strong, but argo vesta broke through and cut off one of its arms. Realizing Bell is too dangerous, the monster ran away with Bell giving chase. As the moss huge ran toward a waterway, it dragged Bell into the waterway. The battle continued in the water, but being unfamiliar with the waterway, Bell could not stop himself from falling down the great falls of level 25.

While Bell battled the moss huge, Ais was busy taking out the pass parade, which kept her busy. By the time she was done, she saw Bell going down the water falls. Activating Ariel, she was still too late and was unable to find Bell. Worried sick, she went back to the group to organize a search. Before starting off, they saw the moss huge gathering the magic stones from pass parade monsters and eating them. The furious Ais activated arial and finished off the monster with one strike.

After going down the great falls, Bell found himself adrift in the waterway. Fortunately a mermaid came to his aid. As Bell pour a potion on himself, the mermaid introduced herself as Marie, which shocked Bell as he has never met a talking monster. Seeing the potion was not enough, Marie used her blood to heal Bell. Bell then asked Marie why she is able to talk, and she explained that she is a Xenos. Bell was unfamiliar with the term so looked puzzled. By that time, Ais and the rest of the group found Bell, but were surprised that Bell was able to talk with a mermaid. Seeing the large group, Marie got scared and wanted to swim away, but Bell promised that she will be safe. Bell then introduced everyone to Marie and told them that she just healed him using her own blood. The group was very surprised by a talking monster, and Ais and Bete were in disbelief that a monster would provide aid. Marie told Ais that she is a Xenos, but Ais has never heard the term either. Marie explained that Xenos are a small number of intelligent monsters living in some of the mid level villages, further surprising everyone. Bell asked about the huge moss, and Marie said it is also a Xenos but a very dangerous one. Ais then asked Marie why it was eating the magic stones of other monsters, and Marie explained that it gets stronger that way. Even the mention of the moss huge made Marie scared, but Ais said she already took care of it. Marie thanked Ais as all mermaids were scared of the moss huge. After gathering all the drop items, they waved goodbye to Marie and headed back up towards the surface.

On the way back up to the surface, the group heard a crying sound. As the rest got ready for a trap, Bell and Ais went to check out the crying. Looking around a slope, they saw a girl who looked like a vouivre with 2 legs instead of a snake-like bottom half. She was crying, so they did not know what to do. They always believed monsters need to be slayed, but yet the experience with Marie was fresh in their mind. At that time, a firebird started to attack the girl, so Bell saved her. She thanked Bell, further shocking them. As Bell treated her wounds with a potion, Ais stood dumbfounded not knowing what to do with yet another talking monster. Bell also covered her with salamander wool so she was no longer naked. As the rest of the group joined them, they marveled at the rare monster who can talk but decided Bell had a monster fetish. They asked the girl whether she is a Xenos. She said yes and started crying again while telling them about all the monsters and adventurers that were hunting her. Bell decided that he wanted to help her and they came up with a name for her, Wiene. Lili did raised concerns when Bell wanted to take Wiene to the surface, but agreed to do it at night. Haruhime and Wiene took an immediate liking to each other, and Haruhime said Wiene can stay in her room. At that point, Ais and Bete looked at each other not knowing what to do with the crying talking monster that looks human.

They reached level 18 and spent the night without trouble, and there were no further Xenos encounters. Wiene stayed with Haruhime in her tent, but they got little sleep as Haruhime explained fairy tales to Wiene. The trip back to the surface also went smoothly, and the plan to bring Wiene up to the surface at night worked well. As the group parted ways, Bell and Ais agreed to call a meeting about Wiene. Walking home, Bete and Ais agreed that this was a really bad idea. The next morning, Loki was furious when she found out.

Loki "Ais, you idiots. You do whatever your boyfriend wants.", making Ais very embarrassed.

Loki to Bete "And you do whatever Ais wants", making Bete very frustrated.

Finn and Riveria tried to calm Loki, and suggested Loki take a look for herself. Thus, the Loki executives headed for the Hestia home as Ais and Bete explained themselves. The others marveled at the thought of a talking monster, but could not imagine a crying monster. When they arrived, Hestia and her familia were already entertaining Miach, Takemikazuchi and Hephaeustus, while Haruhime and Wiene were playing in the garden.

Hestia "I am glad you can join us"

Loki "This is insanity. We are going to get banned from Orario"

Hestia then dragged everyone to watch the two young girls in the garden.

Loki saw the laughing playing Wiene "That is Wiene?"

Finn "She does not look so dangerous to me. The Hestia familia is full of surprises"

Riveria "Loki, we cannot harm that child"

Wiene noticed Ais and waved, and Ais waved in response. Ais then walk to the garden with Tione and Tiona. Apparently Haruhime was reading fairy tales to Wiene, who was having a great time. Ais introduced Tiona and Tione to Wiene, who greeted them with a happy smile. After introductions, the group went back to discuss.

Loki "She looks harmless, but can she change back to a monster"

Bell "She can but she is kind. She can show us later on if you want to see"

Loki to Hestia "This is really dangerous. I will not harm Wiene, but we have to talk to Ganesha. This is super dangerous, and I do not want to return to heaven"

Before heading for Ganesha, they checked on Wiene and discovered she was missing. Apparently, Wiene heard the conversation and did not want to be a burden. With massive panic, everyone headed out to search for Wiene.

By the time they found her, she was surrounded by people. She apparently tried to save a young child from falling bricks from a building, but her wings were exposed making others realized that she was a monster. As the crowd was throwing stones at her, Lili changed into an elf to rescue Wiene. Even though Wiene was rescued, the fact that a winged monster was seen in the city caused a huge panic. To keep her safe, Wiene was brought to the old Hestia home until things settled down.

Loki "This is exactly what I was afraid of, but we are now knee deep"

Hestia "It is up to our noses"

After things calmed down a bit, Hestia and Loki finally went to talk to Ganesha at his home. As they were led in, they saw Ganesha trying to tame a number of monsters. But he was unsuccessful and had to be saved. As they sat down for tea, Ganesha confirmed that he was aware of the Xenos and surprised by their existence. He also promised his assistance if their intent is to help bridge the gap between the surface and the Xenos. As they left together, it appeared to Loki and Hestia that almost everyone knew about the Xenos except them.

That night, an owl monitored the old Hestia home before returning to Fels who realized something must be done. The next morning, Bell was summoned to the guild where Eina handed an envelope to him. The message instructed the Hestia familia and Loki familia to bring Wiene to the 20th floor. There was an additional message in hieroglyphs for Hestia that ordered her to go to a different location.

While the group was discussing the instructions, Dix of the Ikelos familia was discussing the monster sighting with other members. Dix decided to watch the Hestia familia based on the rumors. He was upset with losing track of Wiene because she would be worth a lot to perverted nobleman.

That night, Bell, Welf, Mikoto, Ais, Finn and Riveria took Wiene to the Babel. In their disguises, they quickly went into the dungeon. Apparently, Ikelos members followed them into the dungeon but kept a distance given the involvement of the Loki executives. They reached the 18th floor where they spent the night.

The next morning, they headed to the 20th floor and reached the specified room. There was Fels with the other Xenos. Bell quickly made friends with Lyd the lizardman who was impressed that Bell protected Wiene from monsters and adventurers. However, Gros the gargoyle was not convinced a friendship was possible even after Wiene vouched for her friends. Though they were unsettled by the different types of Xenos, Ais, Finn and Riveria had a good discussion with Fels, who stated his hope that the group can become a bridge between the surface and the Xenos. Now that Wiene was delivered back to the other Xenos, it was time to return to the surface. Wiene held on to Bell, but the other Xenos convinced her it was better this way until the two sides can figure out a way to coexist together.

Meanwhile, Hestia went to the specified location as instructed. Without warning, Fels used black smoke to cover Hestia and himself before disappearing. Miach, Takemikazuchi and their familias were shocked but too slow to react to the abduction. Hestia woke up in a passageway and Fels told her she was safe. She was guided to a stone room where Ouranos was waiting. At that point, Ouranos answered all of Hestia questions about how the Xenos appeared about 15 years ago, and there has been a give-and-take relationship with the Xenos where they helped each other out. Ouranos also said it was ok to let Loki in on the secret, but the city is not ready to accept the Xenos. After leaving Ouranos, Hestia went to Loki to share the latest.

 **Chapter 8 - Madness**

The day after the gang left the Xenos Village, the Xenos split up and headed to another village. Wiene's group was ambushed, resulting in the slaughter of many Xenos. Gran and other Ikelos members gathered and took away Wiene and the remaining Xenos. When Gros and his group discovered the carnage, they were infuriated. Gros led most of the Xenos for revenge, and Lyd finally followed along.

Alarm bells rang at the guild were followed by an announcement that Rivira was destroyed by monsters. At that point, with communications was disabled with the Xenos, and the guild was in total disarray with the injured from the dungeon. Shortly after, the guild then announced that the Ganesha familia has been tasked with handling the Rivira disaster. Under orders from Ouranos, Bell was added to the Ganesha members to go to Rivira. At the same time, the Freya familia and the Loki familia were ordered to defend the city from monsters.

As Bell arrived at the Babel in a hooded cloak, he was quickly brought to an alley to see Fels. Fels told him that he will be part of a team to try to bring order to Rivira. Fels also believed that this has to do with the Ikelos members' Xenos smuggling. Bell then quickly joined the Ganesha familia as they headed to the dungeon. As they marched, Ais was able to join Bell wearing the same hooded cloak. What was not noticed was that Asfi, Aisha and Ryuu had secretly sneaked behind them in their Hades hats.

Meanwhile, Gros and the Xenos were interrogating a captured Ikelos member. After a severe beating, he disclosed the location where the other Xenos were held, as well as the entrance to the Knossos on the 18th floor. With this information, Gros led a group of Xenos to free the captured Xenos, while another group stayed at Rivira to keep control of the ruined town.

The Ganesha team, led by Shakti, quickly got down to the floor 18. As they approached Rivira, they could see the town in ruins. Sensing the group of Xenos heading out of Rivira, they moved to intercept them. This led to a battle with the Xenos, which Fels tried to stop. As Fels tried to reason with Gros, Lyd discovered Bell and questioned why Bell was part of this group. Unfortunately, Fels and Bell were unable to convince Gros and Lyd, and thus the battle continue to rage. With Bell and Ais unwilling to hurt the Xenos, they were not able to help much. Seeing the chaotic battle, Aisha, Ryuu and Asfi took off the Hades Hat and went to help out, but almost the entire group was defeated by a minotaur Xenos. While the battle was ongoing, a group including Gros and Lyd continued towards the Knossos entrance. Seeing the group heading away from the battle, Bell, Ais and Fels followed behind them.

As the Xenos reached the Knossos entrance, they were surprised to find the door opened. Bell, Ais and Fels quickly followed and saw lots of cages where the captured Xenos were kept. Outraged, the Xenos broke open the cages to free their comrades. While this was a trap, Dix did not expect high level fighters. When Dix saw Ais among the group, he realized he was in danger and unleashed his curse Phobetor Daedalus on everyone. Detecting the use of the curse, Fel protected Bell and Ais by having them hid behind him.

The curse caused all the affected Xenos to lose their mind. Dix then had them attack Bell, Ais and Fels. This was overwhelming as Bell, Ais and Fels were trying not to hurt the Xenos. Ais had to go help Fels, as there were also several level 4 Ikelos members attacking Fels. That left Bell to fight Dix while dodging the Xenos attacks.

With Bell finally gaining an upper hand, Dix went to the next room where Wiene was held. He then threatened Bell with pulling the magic stone from Wiene's forehead. Despite their protests, he did remove the stone, turning Wiene back to her monster form. At that point, Dix released his curse from the other Xenos and casted it on Wiene. Dix then sent crazed Wiene up a passage towards the surface, forcing Bell and Fels to give chase.

With the curse removed, the Xenos found Dix, and the Minotaur Xeno killed Dix with 1 strike. Free from dealing with crazed Xenos, Ais followed Bell who chased after Wiene. As she followed, she was able to retrieve the Wiene's magic stone from the dead Dix. Many other Xenos also raced up the passageway to the surface, resulting in complete mayhem as they appeared on the Daedalus street.

 **Chapter 9 - Chaos**

First Wiene, then Bell and Fels, then Ais, then a large number of Xenos came shooting out of an entrance in Daedalus Street in the middle of a busy day. What happened was massive panic and a mad scramble out of the area. Fortunately, it was the Loki familia that was patrolling there instead of the Freya familia. Finn immediately gave the order to protect the citizens but trying not to hurt the Xenos. With the curse worn off after the death of Dix, the Xenos were no longer out of their minds, and they also realized the peril of being in the middle of a busy surface world area. While the Loki familia kept order, Bell and Ais were able to track down Wiene who also recovered from the curse. As Bell tried talking to her, Ais kept the crowd away. After a short time, Bell was able to convince her to go to an abandoned area.

In the meantime, Finn found Lyd and showed him a location to avoid the public eye. Lyd then guided a group of Xenos there to wait for Finn. Gros and his group took off on their own, but Riveria and Tiona followed so things would not go out of control. Shakti and her group also went up the passage way, and they started coordinating with Finn to help keep order after the massive event. Eventually some calm returned, but citizens were very nervous because they have never seen a mad rush of monsters running wild in the city.

The Freya familia was not in the Daedalus Street area but heard about what happened. As a result, they headed towards the chaos. After talking to town folks and deducing roughly where the entrance was, Ottar became very suspicious. So Helun and Allen were sent to keep watch at the Babel entrance while the Gulliver brothers were assigned to keep watch at the Daedalus street entrance area. Meanwhile, Ottar, Hogni and Hedin starting looking for any signs of the monsters all over the city. Obviously the Freya familia presence made things complicated for Finn and Shakti.

By that time, Bell and Wiene reached an abandoned area. Ais also got there and gave Bell Wiene's magic stone. When place on the vouvire's forehead, Wiene was able to regain her humanoid form. Wiene then told Bell and Ais what Dix did to her group and started crying. Bell was very angry about what happened, but they had to take Wiene to a safe location. Thus Ais went to get some clothes for Wiene so they could go hide at the Hestia home.

In the meantime, Finn and Shakti were making progress. Finn then headed to the location he told Lyd to go and explained to Lyd what happened. Fels then joined them and told them where Gros and his group were hiding out. Understanding that this was all instigated by Dix and Ikelos members, Finn promised Lyd that he will help as much as he can. Since the Xenos went to save Wiene, the first task was to find Wiene. Fortunately, Ais soon joined them so they then knew Wiene was safe.

While Riveria and Tiona were monitoring where Gros and his group were hiding, Fels found them and told them that Wiene was now safe. The question is how to let Gros knows about Wiene's news without risking a battle. They then devised a plan to wait for night time so Lyd could safely reach their location to talk to Gros.

As darkness came, Wiene was brought to the Hestia home to keep her safe. Finn and Lyd then headed to where Gros' group was hiding. Together, they told Gros that Bell and Ais were able to save Wiene and that the Ikelos familia was destroyed with only Gran missing. Gros though wanted to see it for himself, but there was no simple way for Gros to be transported to the Hestia home. Fortunately, they convinced Gros that Lyd can be brought to Wiene. At that point, Bell and Ais joined the group and gave Lyd a hooded cloak so he could follow them to the Hestia home.

When they reached the Hestia home, Lyd saw Wiene, who was still playing with Haruhime in her room. With Wiene safe, Lyd was relieved. Seeing the two girls played together also warmed Lyd's heart with a possible future of peaceful coexistence. Lyd had a chance to talk to Wiene and told her that she must still return to the dungeon when it is safe to do so. Afterwards, Lyd headed back to Gros to tell him Wiene was safe.

The next morning, the Xenos were ready to return the dungeon as Wiene was safe and the Ikelos familia was destroyed. The problem was that the Freya familia were watching the Babel entrance and the Daedelus street entrance. Bell then remembered the incident with the barbarian and deduced that there could be an entrance near the old church. Bell and Ais headed there to search for an entrance. After some work, they found an entrance that was blocked by a lot of debris. After charging for 3 minutes, Bell destroyed most of the debris with firebolt. Fels also showed up and was able to open the door with his key. Thus this entrance could be used by the Xenos to return to the dungeon.

 **Chapter 10 - Escape**

With the Xenos in hiding, life in Orario was normalizing. While there were still concerns about monsters, most thought that the monsters have left Orario. The Loki and Hestia members were tasked with returning the Xenos to the dungeon, while Fels provided coordination as well as monitoring the Freya members patrolling and guarding the 2 entrances.

When night came, Lyd and his group quickly made their way to the entrance that was not monitored. They were accompanies by the Loki familia along the way, thanking Finn as they reached the entrance. Gros' group was in a more central location and required more care. They waited until late in the night before making their escape with the accompanying Loki familia. That left Wiene, who was hiding in the Hestia home. They were going to wait for another day or two before trying to move Wiene.

Meanwhile Freya and her familia were very suspicious about the entire affair. They were given guard duty while the Ganesha familia went to Rivira. They were patrolling mostly the city borders instead of where the action took place, and the city borders were the least likely location. Now 2 days have passed, and the monsters appeared to have disappeared. They could tell that other familias had more information than they did, and that annoyed them greatly. However, they continued to monitored the entrance areas as well as patrolling the city. The guild had not yet released the emergency measures, so something could still happen.

In Rivira, things were getting back to normal. The Xenos handed over control back to Fels and the Ganesha familia. To improve stability, 3 level 5 were stationed there. That allowed the Rivira citizens to return and start rebuilding.

After the Xenos returned to the dungeon, they continue to wait in Knossos for the return of Wiene. They were in regular communications with Fels through an occulus, and he assured them that Wiene was fine. They were particularly worried because there were no signs of the minotaur Xenos Asterius, and they thought he also went to the surface. Fels was also worried about Asterius, who is extremely powerful.

At the Hermes home, Hermes and Asfi were discussing the Xenos incident. They were not pleased with Bell's role because it had too much risk. They could also sense that the danger is not over, but did not know when the next shoe will drop.

At the Hestia home, Wiene was enjoying her time at the surface, and promised not to wander into the city by herself. Most of her time was spent with Haruhime and the other members. Ais and Tiona also came over to visit a couple times a day to make sure everything was ok.

At the Loki home, the executives were discussing what the next step was assuming Wiene is returned to the dungeon. Now that Ikelos familia was destroyed, the remaining familia is the Thanatos familia that they know was part of Evilus. But then there was still Revis, Enyo and the demi spirit threat.

Five days after the incident, the guild decided to call off the emergency. The Freya familia also withdrew its surveillance around the entrances. Thus it was time for Wiene to go back. After waiting an extra day, they were going to take Wiene to the same entrance that the other Xenos used to escape. Bell, Ais, Haruhime and Welf accompanied her to the entrance. On their way there, they felt like they could being watched, and a few blocks before the entrance, the Freya members made their move.

Allen and the Gulliver brothers suddenly revealed themselves from a couple vacant buildings. Realizing they were outnumbered, Ais and Welf told Bell to go ahead with Haruhime and Wiene. Haruhime was going to boost Ais, but she told her to stop because she did not want the Freya familia to know about Haruhime's magic. Trying to capture Wiene, the Gulliver brothers attempted to go around Ais and Welf. As the battle began, Welf used his ice sword to push back the Gulliver brothers. Ais quickly engaged with Allen and activated ariel. Even with the ice sword, Welf was soon knocked out, leaving Ais by herself.

Bell, Haruhime and Wiene ran towards the entrance, but suddenly Ottar blocked their way. Even with Haruhime's boosting, Bell was only at level 5 though he could be fighting more like level 6 given his stats. Ottar took out his sword, and Bell started charging argonaut. From afar, Freya watched with great interest. Bell engaged Ottar with argo vesta and told Wiene to run for the entrance. As they crossed swords, there was a loud impact.

Finn and Riveria were waiting patiently and stayed away from the entrance area to avoid causing too much attention. After Fels told them of the action taken by the Freya members, they quickly raced there along with Tiona and Bete. When they approached the area, they could see Bell's duel with Ottar. Fortunately, Bell was not destroyed on the first impact, and he continued to use his argonaut technique to defend against Ottar.

As Wiene was racing towards the entrance, Hogni and Hedin revealed themselves and blocked her way to the entrance. As they tried to catch her, they were attacked by a lightning sword used by black minotaur. Recognizing a powerful opponent, they had to focused on the minotaur, allowing Wiene to run to the entrance.

Even with ariel, Ais could not battle all the Gulliver brothers at the same time. Fortunately, the Loki members arrived and quickly turned the tide. As Tiona, Tione, Finn and Riveria battled the brothers, Ais was able to assist Bell.

As Bell fought Ottar, it was clear that he was being pushed back. Nevertheless, he used his speed and multiple argonaut argo vesta strikes to keep Ottar occupied. Realizing that Wiene reached the entrance, he was relieved but had no idea how to escape Ottar. As Ottar finally got Bell knocked on the ground, Ais arrived. From the Babel, Freya was extremely pleased with Bell's battle and wanted Bell to herself.

As Wiene reached the entrance, Fels appeared and quickly used to key to open the door. Behind the door was Lyd, Gros and other Xenos who quickly took Wiene to safety. Seeing that Asterius was involved in a battle, Lyd and Gros went to assist, freeing the minotaur to survey the battle between Ottar, Bell and Ais.

At that point, the battlefield had become very complex. The Loki members had the upper hand over the Gulliver brother and Allen. Bell and Ais were fighting a defensive battle against Ottar. Hedin and Hogni had the upper hand over Lyd and Gros. Asterius then made a challenge to Bell and Ottar after recognizing that in his previous life, Ottar was his trainer while Bell was the one who defeated him.

Asterius' challenge halted the fighting between Ottar, Bell and Ais. Realizing the situation was complicated, Ottar decided they would not be able to beat both the Loki familia and the Xenos at the same time. Thus he agreed to Asterius' challenge to fight one-on-one on level 18. Bell also accepted the same challenge. At Ais' suggestion, the battle would take place in 3 months, giving each time to train.


	6. Chapters 11 to 13

**Chapter 11 - Good Sleep**

With the ceasefire negotiated between Asterius, Ottar and Bell, the parties went back home. Freya was extremely pleased.

Freya "Ottar, you are a genius"

Ottar "I only accepted the challenge"

Freya "You are a genius but you must win."

Ottar "I will crush the rabbit, though the bull is extremely strong"

Freya "Beware the rabbit will keep leveling"

The next day, Loki and Ais went to visit Hestia and Bell. Loki was worried. Apparently Freya sent out invitations to a party to everyone.

Loki "This can spin out of control into a full war"

Hestia "This is really suspicious"

Ais "Reminds me of Apollo"

Hestia "No matter what, Bell will keep improving."

Ais "Bell needs to improve. We need another deep level trip"

Loki "Good idea. We can check in on floor 59 again"

Hestia "I wonder what Freya is going to do..."

Ais "Well it is a masquerade ball"

Loki "We have 3 days to get a costume"

Bell "I going back to the dungeon"

Ais "I will go with you"

Welf "You two go ahead, we will take care of things here"

Finn "Yea, we will keep training with Haruhime in case this Freya thing explodes"

As the Loki execs started training with Harume, Hestia gave Bell an update. The update showed Bell was half-way through level 4 so Hestia was very pleased.

This would be their first expedition together alone for Bell and Ais. With no supporter, they would only carry the minimum potions and food rations. The trip down was relatively peaceful. There were some minotaurs and hell hounds, but no surprises. Reaching floor 18, it was time to rest for the night. Without tents, they stayed in an inn in Riviria.

Inn keeper "Sword princess, good to see you"

Ais "I need a room please"

Inn keeper after seeing Bell "Oh I see"

Bell "We are just saving money"

Inn keeper "Don't worry, my lips are sealed"

Completely embarrassed, the two went to get dinner after getting the key. At dinner, they ran into Mord and Bors. Apparently, a murder just happened. Ryuu was being blamed, and the townspeople were organizing a large group to hunt down Ryuu the next day.

That night in the room, Bell and Ais were really self-conscious. Even though they hugged and kissed many time before, they never slept in a bed together. Ais fell asleep quickly, but Bell could not as he thought about how close they were sleeping together.

Zeus "Come on boy, do it"

Hestia "Bell, you cannot do such a thing"

Zeus "You do not want to disappoint her"

Hestia "No, I did not raise you to do such unspeakable things"

Zeus won again, and the naughty Bell leaned over Ais wanting more.

'Sleeping' Ais "Is your mind in the gutter?"

Bell "..."

Ais then turned over to hug Bell while they sleep. With his arms trapped, Bell finally fell asleep.

 **Chapter 12 - New Weapon**

The next morning, things were getting ugly about Ryuu, so they followed the mob to prevent things from getting out of control. After searching different floors, they finally ran into Ryuu on floor 27. Turned out Jura Halmer was part of the group and instigated the whole mess. As Ryuu attacked Jura, he had a lambton attack the group. Realizing Bell needed to grow quickly, Ais let Bell take the lead. After an argonaut firebolt knocked out the lambton, Ais, Bell and Ryuu interrogated Jura, who admitted his guilt.

Suddenly a massive explosion happened triggering the juggernaut to spawn, killing off many adventurers on the floor. As Ais used ariel, the wind was reflected back, knocking Ais hard against the wall. Realizing the monster reflected magic, Bell activated argo vesta and destroyed the monster's magic reflecting shell. As Bell went to finish off the juggernaut, the lambton woke up and tried to swallow Bell and Ryuu. Fortunately, Ais recovered enough to use ariel against the lambton. Activating argo vesta again, Bell launched a second strike against the juggernaut to kill it.

With Jura's confession, Ryuu was cleared and the remaining Rivira residents were satisfied and headed back home. Ais then explained Bell's challenge so Ryuu agreed to help on their expedition. They decided the goal was Udaeus.

As they travel down, the levels were getting tougher, but they had to move quickly so Bell and Ais could get back in time for Freya's party. On the way down, Bell received a lot of advice of Udaeus' tendencies and the deadly sword.

Udaeus was tougher than Bell could imagine. Since Bell was taking the lead, Udaeus' attacks kept him mostly occupied on the defensive. Ryuu and Ais fought off the spartoi, while keeping an eye on Bell to make sure he did not get killed. As the rabbit ran around the room avoiding attacks, argonaut was charged and he launched an attack. Spinning into position, an argonaut firebolt was fired and destroyed most of one arm. Like against Ais, Udaeus summoned its sword. Udaeus was incredibly deadly with the sword. Even without being directly impacted, Bell was knocked against the wall several times. Watching the battle was difficult for Ais, but she knew Bell had to keep growing. After more attacks from Udaeus, Bell started charging with limit off. As the grand bell tolled, Ais and Ryuu helped out to lessen Udaeus' focus on Bell. After charging was complete, Bell launched a 3 minute limit-off firebolt which destroyed Udaeus' magic stone. Even though Bell could not have won without help, it was a victory worthy of a hero.

Remembering how well it worked against the Black Goliath, they took Udaeus's sword back so Welf could craft a new weapon for Bell. By the time they returned to Rivira, it was really late. So they needed lodging again...

Inn keeper "Sword princess, welcome again, how many rooms?"

Ais said quietly "1 room"

Inn keeper "Oh,... the 3 of you. My lips are always sealed"

Suffering such humiliation was uncommon for Ais and Ryuu, but they could not help but feel a twinge of excitement. As the 3 shared a large bed, Bell's thoughts went smoking wild with 2 beautiful girls in the bed. Fortunately, Ais hugged Bell all night so that he would sleep like a good boy...

Upon returning home, they learned that Bete had went wild and now has a girlfriend. Apparently he singled-handed destroyed the Thanatos familia after they thought they killed his new girlfriend Lena. Hestia was extremely suspicious when he saw Bell coming back with Ais and Ryuu. When asked about where they stayed overnight, Bell just answered "in Rivira".

Later that night, a shocked Hestia screamed that Bell reached level 5.

 **Chapter 13 - The Wager**

The next morning, Ais came by to visit. After learning of the level up, the two wanted to go test out the new level. Indeed, Bell was much stronger and was in fact fighting Ais pretty evenly. With arial, Ais still had an advantage, but Bell was fighting like a level 6 even without using argonaut.

Bell and Ais barely had time to get a costume, so they both settled for masks to hide their face. The two were quite happy with Bell's level up, feeling a great sense of accomplishment. As they walked through town, the rumor of the level up was already filtering through.

With the level 5 news, Bell was the talk of the ball. Hermes congratulated Bell and declared Bell as the new hero. When Bell and Ais danced together, Freya got very jealous and decided to do something about it.

Freya "I want to welcome everyone. Most of you are probably aware of the grand challenge between Ottar, Bell and a Xenos. I thought Bell and Ottar may give us a preview of the battle. I want to see it, and raise your glass if you want to see it"

When most of the crowd raised their glasses, Hestia had a bad feeling. But being a good sport, Bell went along with the request. After changing out of their tux's, Ottar and Bell squared off in the yard outside. With Haruhime's magic, Bell was fighting at a really high level. The sheer power exhibited had the crowd in awe. Bell was surprised by Ottar's power that went beyond fighting the Loki executives after level boosting. Ottar also was surprised by Bell's power after reaching level 5. However, Ottar still had an advantage. As Bell was being pushed, Freya clapped her hands and thanked the two combatants for giving everyone a hint of what will happen in 3 months. And then Freya showed her hand.

Talking to Hestia and the crowd, Freya "Hestia, congrats on your child's progress. Surely unprecedented."

Nervous Hestia "Yes, Bell-kun is special"

Freya then 'stuck the knife in' "What do you say about a friendly wager on the outcome?"

Hestia "... umm ..."

Freya "If Ottar wins, then Bell will serve under me for 1 month. If Bell wins, what would you want?"

Hestia was stuck "Well, then you can serve under me for 1 month"

After the stakes were raised, Loki came up to Hestia "You do realize what just happened"

Hestia "Yes, 1 month with Freya may as well be forever."

After the wager was made, Freya asked her attendant to take Bell to get a quick bath. Bell was quite pleased with the bath with beautiful art and ornate tiles. As Bell washed himself, he suddenly notice someone was behind him... As he turned his head, it was the beautiful goddess fully naked. Totally embarrassed, tomato-faced Bell turned his head back around.

Freya "Bell, don't be shy, I wanted to make sure you are clean personally"

Bell "Thanks but I can do it myself"

Freya kept washing "I am the hostess so you have to a good guest"

Bell was in scared bunny mode and did not know what to do.

After she was done washing, Freya "You are all clean now. If Ottar wins, I will take care of you like this every night"

Before leaving, Freya gave Bell a small kiss that burned his cheek.

Totally defeated, Bell dried himself and went back to the party...


	7. Chapters 14 to 16

**Chapter 14 - MEOW**

After Freya had her way with Bell in the bath, the defeated Bell dried himself and returned to the party. When Hestia noticed that Bell did not look right, she grabbed Bell and asked what happened. Bell dropped his head and confessed that he was washed.

Hestia "Washed? what does that mean? Someone washed your mouth with soap?"

Bell "No, Freya washed me"

Hestia "Washed you, like naked"

Bell "... ah"

Hestia "FREYA TOOK A BATH WITH YOU?"

Bell "Well, she did not wash herself"

Hestia "OMG"

Seeing something was wrong, Ais came by and checked on Bell. Bell admitted that Freya had her way with him, making Ais incredibly jealous.

Ais "How could you?"

Bell "She came up behind me"

Furious Ais "I should have gone to the bath with you"

Bell "You would ?"

Ais "I would and now I am not letting you out of my sight"

The victorious Freya then came by to say hi to Hestia and Ais.

Freya "Hestia, how do you like the party?"

Hestia "Oh, the food is great."

Freya "Ais, hope you dont mind. I borrowed your boyfriend for a little while"

Ais "Oh really?"

Freya "Yea, I can get used to having Bell around here. Well if Ottar wins, then it will be reality!"

Ais "I have confidence in Bell. I think he will be level 8 in 3 months"

Freya toasted to Ais, Bell and Hestia "Here is to Bell the hero"

Having had her fun, Freya walked around to greet other guests. The steamed Ais and Hestia were beyond angry.

Hestia "Bell, you have to win"

Ais "Bell, you are never leaving me"

Loki saw some of the action and decided to ask about the details "What did Freya do?"

Ais "She surprised Bell in the bathroom"

Loki "Oh this is going to be bad. MEOW"

Hestia "MEOW"

Ais "MEOW"

Bell "MEOW"

With that, they decided it was time to go home. As they said their good byes, Ais asked for a piggy-back ride in front of Freya, and Bell was happy to oblige. Freya smiled at the show and wished them a good night.

That night in bed, Bell still felt the burn on his cheek from Freya's kiss. And the previous night bed's warmth with Ryuu and Ais in the same bed. And the physical closeness when Ais hugged him in bed for 2 nights in a row. Life was good...

 **Chapter 15 - Liaris Freese**

The next morning, the Hestia and Loki familias started to ramp up for another deep level trip. In the morning, Bell would practice with Ais while the Loki execs practice against each other with Haruhime boosting different people. In the afternoon, Bell would fight different execs again with Haruhime varying the 5 people she would boost.

As Hestia did her daily update, she realized something was wrong. The Liaris Freese portion of the status was much fainter than the previous update. It was as if the skill was fading. Hestia then checked his score with the previous scores. It appeared the improvement may have slowed down by at least half. While disturbing, she decided to wait another day or two to see if the effect is real.

For the next 2 days, Bell's updates continued to show a much slower pace of improvement. At this rate, he may at most advance another level in 3 months. While still abnormally high, it is too slow for the battle with Ottar and Asterius. Remembering Freya's wager, Hestia had a massive panic attack. Knowing that it was Bell's feelings for Ais that drives Liaris Freese, Hestia decided to have a honest discussion with Ais and Bell. The next morning, Hestia went with Bell to the Loki home, but dragged them out to an outdoor cafe for their talk.

Hestia "I need to talk to both of you about something that matters a lot to all of us. I kept this to myself to protect Bell, but I need to tell you the secret to Bell's rapid growth"

Ais and Bell "Really?"

Hestia "Bell has a skill called Liaris Freese. I believe it is driven by Bell's feelings for Ais. No one has ever had this skill before. Over the last few months, it consistently drove Bell's growth but in the last 3 days, it has slowed down. I think it is at least threefold slower, may be fivefold"

Ais and Bell were both shocked to hear this.

Ais "Do you no longer like me?"

Bell "No I still like you the same way. I feel really inadequate now"

Hestia "Describe the strong feeling that you have for Ais, especially when you first met her"

Bell "When Ais saved me, I fell in love with her. But I thought I did not deserve her so I desperately wanted to catch up by working as hard as I could."

Ais "Well Bell's power is pretty much caught up to mine. May be the feelings changed because he caught up"

Hestia "That is possible. But this happened after the Freya party. What exactly did she do to you?"

Despite the embarrassment, Bell described in detail what happened, including the kiss on the cheek that burned and being thoroughly washed by Freya"

Ais "Kiss that burned. I wonder if it is some type of magic"

Hestia "I dont think Freya would want to slow Bell's growth. But it is possible"

The three of them decided that there were a few possible reasons for feelings wearing off:

1\. Bell is basically caught up with Ais

2\. Bell and Ais already got close physically.

3\. Freya's actions affected Bell's feelings possibly by introducing a shock to the system.

They all agreed that case 1 would be hopeless. They also agreed that case 2 is also hopeless since they are already close. Case 3 is the one case that they may be able to address. Perhaps the shock from the Freya stimulation confused Bell, and so his growth dropped.

Ais "May be we need get your rate back up with some burning kisses and bathing together"

Bell's heart started racing thinking about what burning kisses and bathing together would mean...

Hestia "There is one risk. If the problem is case 2 where physical closeness is shutting down the feeling, then burning kisses and bathing together could shut it totally off"

Ais "Oh no"

Bell "What do we do?"

Hestia "Tell me how close the two of you have been recently"

Ais then told Hestia about sleeping on the same bed and hugging all night.

Hestia "Well if you have been kissing and hugging for months, then burning kisses are probably fine. The level 5 also happened after you were sharing a bed and hugging all night..."

Embarrassed Bell "I am ok with that"

Ais "We can start after practice. I will get your feelings back up"

After the afternoon practice, Ais and Bell went for a romantic dinner. They then went to a park where other couples hide in dark places and did a lot of long kisses. That evening, the progress in the update was about the same as the last few days.

Hestia "Well, did not shut down but it did not improve either"

Bell "What do we do now?"

Hestia "Let's try this for a few days and see if there is any change."

For the next 2 days, Bell's update continued to show a similar pace of improvement. The burning kisses did not appear to affect his progress. At this rate, Bell would only gain 1 level in 3 months.

Hestia "Well it is time to try the more extreme medicine..."

 **Chapter 16 - Shock Treatment**

Having decided that more drastic measures are needed to buttress Bell's strong feelings behind Liaris Freese, the couple will advance to more extreme measures.

After training, the couple went to Hestia's private bathroom to bathe. Bell was first in the bathroom and soaked himself in the tub while waiting for Ais. Since he has not seen Ais bathing since the peeking incident, he was very nervous with his heart pounding at a rapid rate.

A couple minutes later, Ais came in to the bathroom wearing only a towel. This made Bell's heart pound even faster and breathing became more and more difficult. Ais was also really embarrassed and could barely look in Bell's direction.

Ais "I am ready to come in"

Bell "Ok"

Bell could not look but he sensed that she took off the towel. Then he heard the water splash as she went into the tub.

Ais said with great difficulty "I am behind you"

Ais "I am going to wash you now"

Ais' bare hands were washing his bare back and then his arms, driving his heart to pound even faster than he thought possible. The washing went on for seemingly forever, but Ais made sure his body was thoroughly clean. After washing, Ais gave him a kiss on the cheek, while both were really self-conscious.

After the bath, they had trouble meeting each other's eyes. They went to Hestia to get the update results, which were inconclusive. After 2 more days of bathing, Hestia concluded that there was an improvement though still slower than the original rate.

Hestia "Well this is better, but what exactly are you doing? Can you do better?"

Ais "Well, I am washing Bell like you said and kissing him on the cheek after"

Hestia "What are you doing?"

Bell "Getting washed like what happened with Freya"

Hestia "Do you look at each other?"

Bell and Ais "Not exactly"

Hestia "Do you wash Ais"

Bell "No"

Hestia "Well, may be you should try looking at each other. Bell, may be you need to return the service"

Tomato-faced Bell "Ok"

The next day, the couple went to the bath again. When Ais joined Bell in the tub, they turned so that they faced each other and forced themselves to look at each's tomato red face. After adjusting to the embarrassment, it was time for the washing. Ais washed first, then it was Bell's turn to wash the super-embarrassed Ais. Knowing that he must do it, Bell moved his hands into position. After some deliberation, he started washing her even though he was ready to faint. Doing his job appropriately, Ais was also thoroughly washed. When they finished, neither could say a word. When Hestia did the updating, the results seemed to improve further.

After several days of the new bathing routine, Hestia was satisfied that Bell's pace was close to what it used to be. Based on these results, it does appear Freya's advances disrupted Bell's system, though being intimate with Ais seemed to have canceled Freya's effect. To keep Bell's secret advantage, the couple now realized they must bathe often and thoroughly.

Later on, Hestia took Ais out for a girl-girl talk.

Hestia "You need to know 1 more thing"

Ais "What is it?"

Hestia "If you want to maintain the growth, you cannot be totally intimate"

Ais "What?"

Hestia smiled "He needs an urge that remains an urge that is not satisfied..."

The really embarrassed Ais "Oh I see... but how?"

Hestia winked "Silly girl, does Loki teach you nothing? Be shy... he will go crazy..."


	8. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17 - Shy Ais**

After bathing with Ais gave Bell a rise in feelings, his growth rate appeared back to normal. With daily bathing, hopefully Ais' shyness helps Bell rise for the occasion.

The next day, improvement was also detected by Loki executives commenting on Bell getting stronger. That was timely as a deep level expedition was planned in 2 days. They would go back to level 59 and perhaps deeper, while leaving the junior members around floor 25.

After training, it was time for the bath. As Bell started to wash Ais, she allowed her natural embarrassment to take over, spinning around suddenly with her back facing him.

Bell "Ais, what is wrong"

Following the advice, Ais said softly "I am shy"

Bell "Are you ok?"

Ais "I am, do what you want"

As the washing service continued, Ais' embarrassment made her covered her face and crouched over more and more.

Bell "Are you ok?"

Ais "Just really embarrassing. I like it though."

An invigorated Bell continued the washing service with a huge smile. After the bath, Ais could barely face Bell, who walked with a charge in his step. That night, Hestia was pleased with the update results, as Freya's effects were washed away.

After another day of preparation, the team was ready for the expedition. Bell would be in his first deep level expedition with Haruhime and the Loki execs.

The early levels were uneventful, and they decided to camp out on level 18. That night, the emboldened Bell sneaked into Ais' tent. The next morning, there was a loud scream when Lefiya and Tiona visited Ais' tent.

Lefiya "That Bell! Ais looked so shy and embarrassed. That beast! His eyes looked like they were feasting on Ais. OMG"

Tiona "Wow argonaut is so bold"

Tione "What happened?"

Lefiya "Bell was having his way with Ais in her tent."

Tiona "Lefiya, Ais was not complaining. We should not be surprised. They belong to each other."

Tione "We do not want to interrupt the expedition"

Lefiya "I have horrible images in my mind that I cannot get rid of, AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Tiona "We need to keep our cool"

At that point, Bell and Ais got up. Ais checked on Lefiya to make sure she was ok. Tiona and Tione went to Argonaut to poke him a little.

Tione "Argonaut-kun, how well did you sleep?"

Bell "Really well, thanks"

Tiona "Really, were you not busy?"

Bell "No..."

Tiona "Well you look happy. Is there something we should know?"

Realizing he was being teased, Bell smiled "Not really... I have never gone deep before. It is exciting"

Tione blushed "You do look excited"

At that point, it was time to assemble for the mission. The second day took them to level 50. For Bell to gain more experience, he served in the vanguard with Ais and Bete, and they were sufficient to clear a path of monsters without much assistance.

While setting up camp for the night, Tiona and Tione dragged Lefiya away from Ais' tent, which was next to Bell's tent. To make sure there were no surprises, Tiona enjoyed Lefiya as a body pillow all night.


	9. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18 - 58th Floor**

The next morning, no one interrupted Bell and Ais in her tent. On the other hand, poor Lefiya was sore from being used as a body pillow by Tiona all night. She was also livid from Tiona's discussion with Tione, as Bell's comments were reaching argonaut status.

Lefiya "He really said that?"

Tione "Yea, he said it is first time he went deep"

Tiona "Bell is such a charmer"

Lefiya "Should have arcs ray him when he peeked on the 18th floor"

Tione "LOL, for the 1st time, I am not sure it was all Hermes' doing..."

As they assembled in formation, it was time to descend into the labyrinth levels. Finn reminded Bell that valgang dragons lock onto adventurers and attack through the floor. As they marched in formation through the labyrinth, Haruhime was already invisible. There was however a surprising lack of dragon attacks. There were plenty of virgas and other monsters, and those kept the vanguard busy. Half a day went by, and they reached the entrance for 58th floor where there should be a lot of dragons.

To their surprise, there were only dead dragon remains, but again plenty of virgas. As a couple dragons spawn, the virgas appear to quickly attack and gobble up the prey. There were still no signs of Revis or any demi spirits.

Riveria "It appears the catepillars are treating the dragons as food"

Finn "Not good, looks like a magic stone factory for Revis and demi spirits."

To quickly clear the large area, Lefiya used Fusillade Fallarica. With no other resistance, they headed to the 59th floor entrance. As they entered, it was still hot and full of green vegetation. Heading toward the known pantries, they saw viscums that took over a pantry.

Suddenly, there was a familiar voice "Aria, you came back."

They could see her riding a virga. And the battle began. Hundreds of violas, as well as 5 viscums, headed for them. Sudden Bell, Ais, Gareth, Bete and Riveria all received a large surge of power, while Finn and Tione stayed in the rear protecting the mages and the invisible girl.

As they headed for the enemy, Bell started charging while Ais activated arial. Gareth and Bete also headed for the 2 closest viscums, while Tiona fought with violas.

Ais was the first to score a hit on a viscum by knocking one down with a huge wind. Bell then launched a 1 minute argonaut firebolt at the head of another viscum, vaporizing its magic stone. At the same time, Tiona chopped off numerous viola branches, while Gareth and Bete fought with another 2 other viscum. Meanwhile, Lefiya launched Fusillade Fallarica, taking out most of the virgas, including the one Revis was riding on.

With one viscum destroyed, Bell started charging again while Ais used a huge wind to knock down the same viscum again. Meanwhile Tiona, Gareth and Bete continued to battle the violas and 2 other viscums. At that time, Riveria fired off Rea Laevateinn at level 7 power, which wiped out the remaining violas and viscums.

With the plants and Virgas wiped out, Revis headed towards an exit. With victory in hand, the group chased after Revis.

Finn "Beware of a trap!"

Riveria "She may well be trying to use up our magic."

Tione "Still, let's use our power while we are boosted up"

As they entered level 60, they saw yet another hot vegetation-filled level. They could see Revis as they headed towards what looked like another pantry with at least 2 viscums.

Finn "How many floors of this farming do they have?"

Riveria "There is a limit to what we can fight"

Bell, Ais, Tione, Gareth and Bete charged towards Revis and her plants. There were again hundreds of violas and about 4 viscums. Revis jumped to the rear to observe from a high point. Having already charged for 1 minute, Bell launched an argonaut firebolt to take out the head of a viscum, while Ais used another huge wind to knock down another viscum. This time, Bete waited for Ais' attack to jump on the fallen viscum to attack its head. Seeing this, Ais went on to another viscum. As Gareth followed Ais to the 3rd viscum, Bell headed right for Revis, who seemed to be waiting for Bell. Wanting to conserve her strength, Riveria was holding back, while Lefiya was chanting again. At that point, Finn, Tione and Tiona were protecting the mages and Haruhime from a 4th viscum and hundreds of violas.

As Bete finished off the fallen viscum, Ais knocked down the 3rd viscum. While Gareth jumped on the 3rd viscum to kill it, Ais headed towards Bell and Revis. At the same time, Bell's argo vesta clashed with Revis' green sword.

Having finished off a viscum, Bete followed after Ais, who was heading towards Bell and Revis. By then, Gareth managed to finish off he 3rd viscum, and was going to help Finn, Tione and Tiona with the 4th viscum and the violas.

Meanwhile there was a loud clash when argo vesta impacted with the green sword, destroying Revis' sword. However, Revis was only slightly injured, and she quickly jumped back and retreated towards another exit. While Bell gave chase, Revis was too fast. However, Lefiya's arcs ray hit Revis, but again doing only a small amount of damage. Ais was faster in arial and she kept chasing Revis until Finn yelled for them to stop.

While they had destroyed the remaining violas and viscums, Haruhime could not longer sustain the boosting.

Finn "The level boosting has just run out and Haruhime needs some time to recharge"

Riveria "We dont know how many floors they have. We cannot exhaust ourselves."

Gareth "Seems like Revis and Enyo have been busy."

Ais "Yes, how many jewel fetus they could have now"

Finn "I think we better head back up. We want to keep some reserves in case of a surprise. We can come back tomorrow."

After confirming the 61st floor was another farming floor, they headed back up the floors. There was minimal resistance on the 60th floor and the 59th floor. However, there were quite a number of dragons that had spawned in the 58th floor because all the virgas were killed on the way down. As the dragons attacked, Ais called a huge wind to ground the flying dragons. As the dragons crashed, the fighters quickly jumped on them to finish them off. Realizing that more dragons would continue to spawn, the team quickly headed up to the 57th floor and made their way through the labyrinth. By the end of the day, they made it back to the 50th floor. It was time for dinner and some discussion.

Finn "If we have to retreat from these farming floors, we have to go through the 58th floor of spawning dragons. This is a huge risk"

Riveria "Yes, ideally we could leave at a small team on the 58th floor to protect our flank, but we dont have enough team members"

Gareth "I dont mind being one of the ones staying on the 58th floor to keep the dragon population down"

Finn "No, we need at least a team of 3."

Bete "But those farming floors could be giving rise to feed more jewel fetuses"

Finn "We cannot afford to fail. We have our hands full and the demi spirits have not even entered the battle"

Gareth "Yea, we need more allies"

Riveria "We need the Freya familia even if there is a price attached to it."

Gareth "We need to come right back"

Ais thinking - what if Bell is the price for Freya...

Bell thinking - what is Freya going to want?

With the discussion concluded, the team rested for the night. The next morning, they started going back up to the surface.


	10. Chapters 19 to 21

**Chapter 19 - Fateful Decision**

After returning to the surface, Loki and Hestia called a meeting with Freya, Ganesha, Hermes and Hephaestus. Meanwhile, it was time for updating and some good food.

Probably due to extreme magic use, Haruhime made it to level 2, which was critical as she could now boost 7. She also seem to be able to maintain the boost period longer. Bell's progress was good as he was approaching level 6. After updating, Bell and Ais had time for a long bath to wash off the dungeon grime.

The next morning, Ais, Tiona and Tione went out for some food and they got a chance to talk.

Tione "Ais, looks look you are Bell are really close"

Embarrassed Ais "Yea, we are"

Tiona "I cant take it any more! What were you doing in the tent?"

Ais "You saw"

Tiona "We only got a quick look. We want details"

Ais "It is too embarrassing"

Tione "I did not get to see"

Ais "Hestia told us that it is important for Bell's growth that we are intimate"

Tione "How intimate? Hestia is your excuse?"

Ais "Intimate but not totally intimate"

Tiona "If that was not totally intimate, ..."

Ais "Tiona, have you been totally intimate"

Blushing Tiona "Why are you asking? You were the one doing it"

Ais "Bell was practicing washing me without the water"

Tione "What?"

Really embarrassed Ais "That is intimate without being totally intimate"

Tiona "The Hestia familia is full of surprises"

Tiona with an evil smile "Do you like it?"

The furious Ais chased Tiona for a long distance before Tiona was punished...

During the lunch meeting, Freya brought Ottar while Hephaestus brought Tsubaki and Hermes brought Asfi.

Freya "You were able to clear 2 farming floors but the next floor had the same setup?"

Ais "Yes, each floor had multiple viscums and hundreds of violas."

Finn "The enemy is using the magic stones and pantries' nutrients to get stronger and incubate demi spirits."

Riveria "We did not fight with any demi spirits and we already had our hands full"

Hermes "This is troubling indeed"

Freya "What are you looking for? Oh Hestia, we can discuss compensation AFTER the meeting."

Loki "Finn believes that we need 2 teams. A small team to keep higher floors under control, particularly the 58th floor where the dragons are. The larger team will keep burning down the farming floors."

Ganesha "We also need to defend against an attack on Orario."

Hermes "We know they probably have at least 6 of those jewel fetuses"

Loki "True, I am not sure we can defeat 6 at the same time. But they may have even more now"

Hestia "We need to draw those demi spirits out in the dungeon instead of in Orario."

Freya "If 1 of those almost defeated 4 level 6 and 4 level 5, how are we going to beat 6 of them?"

Finn "Best case, Bell takes one. Our familia takes 2. Your familia takes 2. And others keep another one busy"

Freya "6 is barely believable, and 10 would be suicide"

Hestia "I think they would have attacked already if they had overwhelming force."

Loki "By dismantling Bali, Ishtar, Thanatos and Ikelos familiars, we may have delayed their plans"

Finn "It does seem they want to get their monsters on the surface before using the jewel fetuses."

Riveria "May be those demi spirits are hard to control once fully formed"

Freya "That makes sense. Strike now while we have a chance"

Finn "Ideally, we do quick strikes. We go in and burn down their assets. Do it enough and draw out a few of those demi spirits while gathering information"

Riveria "Those farms took a lot of effort and time. Burn them down. Hopefully draw a response."

Hestia "We have a secret weapon. One of my children can temporarily boost the level of 7 adventurers. So let say Ottar, Finn, Riveria, Bell, Gareth, Bete and one more"

Hephaestus "Wow"

Freya "Hestia is full of surprises"

Loki "Also Lefiya is now level 4 so her magic will be more powerful too"

With consensus, Hestia and Freya met after the meeting to discuss compensation. The negotiations were tough, but Hestia got Freya to accept compensation after the dungeon battles are over. Before adjourning, Welf provided 3 lightning magic swords for the expedition. Bell also received 2 special long swords made from Udaeus' sword.

An expedition would be launched the next day. The main team would consist of the Loki execs, Ottar, Allen, Asfi, Bell and Haruhime. The 2nd team would consist of the Gulliver brothers and Lefiya.

 **Chapter 20 - The Battle**

The team went down in 2 groups. To save time, they got all the way down to the 25th floor for the 1st night. The next day, they traveled to the 50th floor. Bell and Ais had their privacy as no one wanted to be near Ais' tent

On the 3rd day, the trek down through the labyrinth started. Like the previous trip, there were no attacks from dragons beneath, probably meaning the virgas returned. The 1st team was able to battle their way down to the 58th floor while mostly the vanguard defeated a good number of monsters including virgas.

When they entered the 58th floor, there were a good number of virgas but the violas and viscums have not returned. Ottar and Allen got in some fighting with the monsters before Lefiya launched Fusillade Fallarica. At that point, the larger team headed to the 59th floor while the small team stayed to patrol the conquered floors.

The invisible Asfi took a quick look at the 59th floor before returning to report only a manageable number of virgas. To save Riveria's magic, Lefiya did follow them to use Fusillade Fallarica. The same was done on the 60th floor with Asfi scouting the floor and Lefiya using Fusillade Fallarica one last time. At that point, it was time for the showdown.

When they entered the 61st floor, they saw the hundreds of violas and several viscum. For the battle, they would separate into 3 teams. Team 1 consisted of Ais, Bell and Tione. Team 2 consisted of Bete, Gareth, Ottar and Allen. Team 3 consisted of Finn, Riveria, Tiona, Asfi and Haruhime. Haruhime apparently boosted Ais, Bell, Ottar, Bete, Gareth, Riveria and Tiona.

As they headed towards the enemy, Revis suddenly spoke from a highpoint "Aria, we have been waiting for you"

Behind Revis were 2 mage type demi spirits and a bull type demi spirit. Realizing the danger, Riveria put up Via Shilheim. At that point, Welf, revealing himself when he took off his Hades Hat, used will-o-wisp to block the attack from the first mage demi spirit. The second mage demi spirit launched meteror swarm, which was stopped by the level 7 shield spell. Remembering what happened the last time, Gareth got his shield ready to protect the group. Riveria then started chanting her attacking spell while the 2 mage spirits were again casting their attack spells. Welf was able to block the spell of the 2nd demi spirit this time, while Riveria and 1st mage demi spirit traded attacks. Riveria's shield barely survived the 2nd attack, but her attack caused severe damage on the 2 mage demi spirits. As the 2 demi spirits were regenerating by sucking the magic out of other monsters, the group launched their direct attack. Bell launched a 3-minute charged argonaut firebolt at the bull type demi spirit, which destroyed its legs, and Tiona then charged towards the disabled monster to kill it. Ais and Ottar headed towards the regenerating mage demi spirits. Meanwhile, Allen, Bete, Tione, and Gareth battled the violas and viscum.

Bell, charging argo vesta, then headed directly towards Revis, who had her weapon at the ready. To stop the first demi spirit from casting another spell, Ais used a huge wind to knock it down. Welf again blocked the attack from the second mage demi spirit so it could not fire on Ottar. Using the lightning swords, Gareth and Tione were able to vaporized the magic stones from two viscums. At the same time, Bete and Allen were making progress against the remaining viscums and violas.

As Revis battled Bell, there were huge explosions as argo vesta impacted with Revis' green swords. Bell's gain in strength from his update surprised Revis, but she realized she is stronger. Ais used another huge wind to knock down the 1st mage demi spirit again, while Ottar has severely damaged the 2nd mage demi spirit with Welf's spell blocking help. Gareth and Tione used more lightning strikes to take out the remaining viscum, and ran to help with the demi spirits.

After a few exchanges, Bell realized he was being pushed by Revis, and decided to use both argo vesta and the new sword from Welf. At the same time, Gareth and Tione reached Ais and Ottar. Gareth jumped on the 1st mage demi spirit that was again knocked down by ariel, while Tione combine with Ottar to finish off the 2nd mage demi spirit. Meanwhile, Bete and Allen were thinned out most of the remaining violas.

Even with 2 swords, Bell was stabbed by Revis, but fortunately, Ottar and Tione got there before Revis could make a deeper slash. At that point, it was Ottar fighting at level 8 versus Revis. Tiona dragged Bell off to the side and pour potions on him. Meanwhile, Ais and Gareth finished off the 1st mage demi spirit.

Ottar and Revis were having an even fight. Ais, who saw Bell was injured, headed towards the battle with Revis. Gareth then went to assist Bete and Allen with the remaining plants. However, Haruhime was running out of power, so the level boosting had to end.

Losing the level boost, Revis started pushing Ottar, but Tiona and Ais joined in the battle, making it 3 on 1. As Bell recovered, he started charging argonaut with no limit using the new sword from Welf.

Seeing that all the monsters were defeated with the grand bell tolling in the bankground, Revis decided to retreat again, but Bell jumped in to block her way. While only charged for 2 minutes, the new sword impacted with Revis' weapon. The new sword won, and cut off Revis' right arm and the shock from the explosion blew Revis away 30 feet into a wall. However, that gave the defeated Revis the distance she needed to escape. Before the team could get close, Revis went through the entrance to the 62nd level.

Realizing they had the advantage, they decided to chase to the 62nd level. When they came out of the entrance, it was more of the same with the hot level and lots of plants. With no sign of Revis, they moved forward. However, their advance was stopped by viscums and violas, but no tamer was in sight. This time, Finn and Ottar took the lead, allowing Bell, Ais and Riveria to rest a bit with their heavy use of magic. While the battle proceeded, Bell thanked Welf for risking his life to help. Led by Ottar and Finn, the violas and viscums were cut down, but there were still no sign of Revis or any tamer. Realizing they still had the advantage, the team headed to the 63rd floor. It was yet another hot level with lots of vegetation and farming. Again, they were attacked by violas and viscums, which appeared to be a delay tactic to protect Revis.

In the battle led by Finn and Ottar, the team quickly cut down the violas and viscums. Continuing to push their advantage, they headed down to the 64th floor. They proceeded to cut and burn down many floors with enemy plants until they got to the 70th floor. The 70th floor was different because the plants appeared to be much less developed and hopefully marked the end of the farming activity. After cutting and burning the plants, they went to the 71st floor, where no farming was apparent. By that point, they had fought most of the day and needed to figure out where to rest. Deciding it was too dangerous to be that far from the 2nd group, they headed back up the floors. They found the 2nd team patrolling on the 60th floor on the way back up and spent the night there. Having burned down the farming floors, the question was 'what now'.

Finn "Wow, they were farming 12 floors."

Gareth "We have no idea how many jewel fetuses they have now"

Ottar "I dont know how we would battle 6 or 10 of those at the same time"

Finn "It was good we got defeat 3 of those. Hopefully they have less than 6 now"

Finn "The question is what do we do now. Revis is severely injured but which floor is she hiding?"

Riveria "We cannot stretch ourselves too thin. We need more reinforcements"

Bell "Orario still needs protection. We do not have any more."

Finn "There only reason to attack now is because Revis is injured"

Riveria "Right, hopefully with their farm burnt down, they are not getting stronger"

Ottar "Agreed. We need to go back and get approval for a new plan. The 70th floor is deeper than we expected"

With the decision made, the group rested for the night and headed back up the next day.

 **Chapter 21 - Allies Needed**

After reaching the surface, everyone went home to rest up. That evening, Ais and Bell had their bath that they were really looking forward to. The hot water felt great and all the dungeon dirt took a lot of clean off. Afterwards, Hestia announced that Bell had reached level 6, with the victory over Revis to be worthy of praise from the gods. Ais congratulated Bell, who had finally caught up in level to her. With his stats, he should actually be fighting more like a level 7.

After Ais return to the Loki home, she found out that Riveria had finally reached level 7 after a decade of hard work. She was so happy for Riveria, and the increase in power could not have come at a better time. Enjoying her promotion, the elf definitely gave the dwarf and the pallum grief about the rank difference.

The next day, the familias met. The level up by Bell and Riveria were however the sizzle in the meeting. The topic of the meeting though was to figure out how to fight deeper and deeper into the dungeon while controlling the spawning monsters in all the conquered floors.

Ganesha "This is impossible. We just dont have enough high level adventurers"

Finn "We took out 3 demi spirits. It is much better to draw out the enemy in the dungeon now. Imagine if they still have 10 of those and they all show up in Orario"

Ottar "We have trouble fighting 5 of these at the same time. And that red haired tamer is a level 8 monster"

Bell "What if we got help from the Xenos? They should want to help"

Hermes "That is a splendid idea"

Freya "Alliance with monsters?"

Ais "They can talk and are intelligent. Some have helped us"

Freya "This is hard to believe."

Bell "Of the powerful Xenos we have met. I am quite sure the lizardman will help and he is a level 5 or so. I think the gargoyle may join us but we need to talk to him. The gargoyle is a level 5 or so. The key is the minotaur that is at least a level 7."

Ottar "The minotaur was fighting at a level higher than 7"

Loki "Hermes, may be we go talk to Ouranos?"

Hermes "Yes I agree. Lets go to the guild"

Freya "Alright, I will keep an open mind. I would need to meet them before agreeing to anything"

Freya to Hestia "Hestia, my compensation has gotten more substantial"

Hestia nodded, making Bell and Ais more worried.

Thus, Hermes and Loki went to find Ouranos. Meanwhile, with some down time, the team did some training so Ottar and Allen could understand better Haruhime's powers. With Welf's role in blocking monster magic, he also took part in the training. Finally, everyone got to try out the level 6 Bell and see the level 7 Riveria.

As expected, the level 6 Bell fought like a level 7. When Bell fought against Ais, he had the advantage but the battle was reasonably even when she used ariel. When it came time for Bell and Ottar to spar, everybody dropped what they were doing to watch. Ottar had the advantage over Bell, but when Haruhime boosted Bell, the roles were reversed. When Bell practiced against Bete, he spanked the wolf, which was really hard for Bete to take. Refusing to swallow his pride, Bete fought on but it was a losing cause.

Riveria's magic power at level 7 was similar to the boosted performance in the dungeon, but when boosted to level 8, it was absolutely frightening. Some wanted Bell to use argonaut against her new shield, but Finn refused to allow it.

Loki and Hermes returned after talking to Ouranos, who agreed to meet with all the participating gods. He believed the Xenos would help and offered Fels to coordinate. The next day, the meeting with Ouranos went as expected. Ouranos gave his description of Enyo and Revis to Freya and the other gods. It was agreed that the next expedition would start after 2 more days. Fels left early to find the Xenos so a meeting could be arranged at the Babel.

Two days of practicing, eating, bathing and updating went by quickly. The Xenos meeting would take place at the dungeon entrance, while the entire Babel area was sealed off by Ganesha members. Hephaestus, Loki, Hestia, Ganesha and Hermes, along with their familia executives, were waiting for the Xenos. With Fels leading the way, the key Xenos showed up including Asterius, Lyd and Gros. Lyd and Gros repeated their desire to live in peace while the Freya and Loki indicated that time was needed for such a drastic change in views by the surface world. With Fels guiding the talks, the two sides agreed to a truce and also to work together against Enyo and Revis. Finn then took over and discussed the tactics with the Xenos. The key was that the Xenos would take keeping the 58th floor under control, freeing up the small party to do more patrolling of the conquered floors. With that settled, the expedition immediately started. While the expedition was ongoing, the Ganesha familia would watch over the dungeon entrances at the Babel and the Knossos.


	11. Chapters 22 to 25

**Chapter 22 - Deep Penetration**

The team went down the dungeon together with the Xenos. The huge group scared away most monsters, making the travel go quickly. They did not stop at Rivira, and got all the way down to the 30th floor. The next day, they reached the 50th floor in the afternoon, allowing a quick survey of the labyrinth floors to see whether the dragons were back. As there were no dragon strikes, the assumption was that the virgas were back on the 58th floor.

On the following day, the team headed down the labyrinth, with the vanguard taking care of the virgas and other monsters along the way. Joining the vanguard was Asterius who wanted in on the battles. They quickly reached the 58th floor, which did not change much. There were about 20 virgas, so the fighters cut those down instead of using magic. At that point, the Xenos would remain based on the 58th floor with short patrols down to the 60th floor. The other teams would remain in communication by occulus with Fels, who would stay with the Xenos.

The team continued to head down quickly as there were less encounters than before. When they reached the 70th floor, the smaller team separated off as the main force headed to the 71st floor. The 71st floor still had no farming, but had its fair share of monsters including virgas. Conserving magic when possible, the main fighters cut down the monsters as they explored the floor. There were only a small number of violas and no viscum on the floor. After finding the likely entrance for the 72nd floor, the invisible Asfi did a quick scouting trip.

The 72nd floor was similar to the 71st floor. The fighters battled a reasonable number of monsters, but there were no viscums or anything unusual. By that time, it was getting late so they contacted the smaller team to meet on the 65th floor. Fels also reported that nothing unusual on the 58th floor, so apparently no trap had sprung at this point.

The next morning, the main team again headed back down, and started exploring the 73rd floor, which was similar to the 71st and 72nd. The expansion of the known territory went on until they reached the 80th floor with no sign of Revis, viscums, demi spirits or anything unusual. Then the team realized it was again stretched too thin and a new plan was needed. They headed back up to meet with the smaller team on the 70th level to spend the night.

The next morning, they went back up to the 58th floor. Meeting together with Fels and the Xenos, they decided a new strategy was needed. The Xenos thus headed back to their villages, while the team headed back to the surface. Two days later, they were home.

 **Chapter 23 - State of Affairs**

The historic trip down to the 80th floor was the talk of Orario, but yet they could not find Revis and destroy the jewel fetuses. They also did not have enough resources to go any further, as Orario also needed protection at the same time. After a day to decompress from the trip, there was another big meeting.

Loki "We need to cut off the head of the snake. We need to go deeper"

Finn "We are stretched too thin"

Freya "There are no more allies to be had. Ganesha members need to protect Orario while this is going on"

Hestia "Let's think about what we are trying to prevent - a multiple demi spirit attack in Orario. How do we do that?"

Riveria "Those jewel fetuses are small and easy to smuggle, but they would also need powerful monsters near the surface or on the surface."

Finn "We can extend our perimeter. Instead of the Babel, we can guard entrances to different floors"

Bell "But there are vertical holes also"

Finn "Ideally that would be a floor that monsters do not spawn - so those are 18th and 50th floors"

Tiona "There is the Melen underwater entrance that connects to the 25th floor"

Loki "What you are suggesting is to put an outpost on one of those floors"

Gareth "We can take turns guarding those. We can also have a deep level expedition every month"

Finn "The 18th floor is more viable, but there is the Melen entrance."

Bell "Can we try to plug it from the dungeon side?"

Tiona "We can go take a look"

Loki "None of the monsters that merged with the jewel fetuses are strong swimmers"

Hestia "Which monster can both swim and be a threat on land?"

Finn "Their most reasonable path is through the dungeon or Knossos."

Hermes "Sounds like we patrol the 18th floor"

Freya "We can do these deep expeditions once a month"

Riveria "Once a month down to level 60 or so"

Bell "It would help if the Xenos would also patrol the 18th floor.

Loki "That does sound reasonable. We need to talk to them about that and the monthly expeditions"

Hermes "I will find Fels"

With that, the meeting was finished. As everyone was leaving, Freya had something to remind Hestia of.

Freya "Oh Hestia, the dungeon battles are over lol"

Hestia "... oh yes you are right"

Freya "So about the compensation... lol"

Hestia "... oh yes..."

That night, Hestia, Bell and Ais had a talk about the compensation.

Ais "Bell is the compensation, right?"

Hestia "Well, yes but he will be her servant for 1 day"

Ais "Oh no, this is bad"

Bell "Oh..."

Hestia "We have to pay up, but we know how to fix Bell now"

Ais "This is horrible"

Bell "Ais, I will be strong"

Ais "Yes, you need to be strong"

 **Chapter 24 - The Compensation**

True to their word, Bell served himself up at the Freya home. Freya had a lot of plans. She wanted to see Bell and Ottar spar. She wanted a romantic dinner and dancing. She wanted a long bath. Oh she had so many things planned she was about to singing...

First, there was the sparring. Bell took turn practicing against the Gulliver brothers and Allen. At level 5, the brothers did not stand a chance. After their defeat, Bell had a better battle against Allen. However, Bell was fighting like a level 7, so Allen was defeated handily. Freya watched gleefully as the hero performed as expected.

After a short break, it was time for Bell and Ottar to spar.

Freya "A nice preview of the battle in 2 months, Bell"

Ottar "Bell, let see what you got"

Bell "I will do my best, Ottar"

Freya thought - now we shall see what Bell has without boosting.

Without argonaut, the fight was pretty close, but Ottar had a clear advantage. After a few minutes, Bell was mostly defending against Ottar's huge sword.

Ottar "Are you going to use your argonaut powers?"

Bell "I dont want an accident"

Ottar "Go ahead, I want see the best you got"

Freya clapped furious as she realized the hero will now try his best.

While not using firebolt, Bell used argonaut to augment his power and speed by charging his arms or legs. That made a big difference, giving him a speed advantage though Ottar was still stronger. After a few minutes of speed vs. power, Freya signaled it was a draw and time for lunch soon.

After sparring, it was time for a bath. As he soaked in the huge bath, Bell prepared himself. Soon enough, the beautiful goddess joined him. As she started washing him, Bell felt waves of embarrassment. But his grandfather called out to him.

Zeus "Bell, dont let the beauty be wasted. Be the boss!"

Hestia "Oh I cannot watch"

Zeus "Be the boss. Be in control instead!"

Listening to his grandfather, Bell suddenly turned around to face the nude goddess, surprising her.

Bell "I will wash you now"

The shocked Freya "Oh what ...?"

Shocked with the turn of events, Freya has never been talked to in such a way. Without more words, Bell started washing Freya, which made her blush with embarrassment. The goddess did not know what to do, but could not resist. As the service continued, Freya could not take the direct confrontation any more. She closed her eyes and turned around. Sensing his advantage, Bell performed a very thorough service, with Freya screaming in utter ecstasy. At the end, Freya was so exhausted that Bell had to carry her away from the bath. After leaving the defeated Freya on her bed, Bell went and got dressed for lunch.

The lunch was amazing with the finest foods that money could buy. Though Freya was late, Bell was chatting with Ottar about fighting techniques. When Freya arrived, she looked flushed in the face but sat next to Bell. Allen and the Gulliver brothers were jealously watching the attention Bell received. However, they were defeated fair and square, so they kept quiet. Freya wanted to know more about Bell's past.

Freya "Tell me more about your grandfather again"

Bell "Well he raised me because my parents died when I was a baby. He took care of me and taught me so much"

Bell went into details about the books they read, how he saved him from a monster, about the stories of heros and what a hero should do...

Freya asked "Describe your grandfather to me"

Bell then described his grandfather's kind face, his gray hair and mustache...

Freya "What happened to him?"

Bell said "He did not come home one day and I was told he was killed by a monster"

Freya "Tell me about your relationship with the sword princess."

Bell then told her about the circumstances of how they met, the minotaur, how he wanted to be able to stand next to her, how she is an airhead, how she is really kind...

Freya "So you are in love with Ais"

Bell "Yes"

That directly stabbed Freya in the heart but she could tell Bell was sincere. The only male that has defeated her is in love with someone else. But she carried on gracefully the rest of the lunch. After lunch was more sparring again.

Sparring two Gulliver brothers at a time was a better battle. However, experienced eyes could tell that Bell was improving as the day went on. After battling the different brothers, Bell had another session with Allen, who fared even worse than in the morning. At the end, Allen was so frustrated that he left for the dungeon.

After a short break, it was another sparring session with Ottar. Using argonaut from the start, the battle was special. Watching intently, Freya could see Bell's adjustments. The argonaut charges were better timed, resulting in small improvements in speed and power. Though Ottar still had more power, the results were noticeable. After a longer match, neither combatant had a clear score, but Bell's speed made it almost impossible for Ottar's strikes to even get close.

Satisfied with the results, Freya declared the battle another draw. As Bell went to the bath, Freya had a short chat with Ottar.

Ottar "I will not be able to beat him in 2 months."

Freya "Yes, he has caught up, and he is growing right in front of our eyes"

Ottar "I am sorry Lady Freya, but he is special"

Freya "Yes but a match is still scheduled, so I expect you to do your best"

Ottar "My lady, I will do my best to protect your honor"

Freya thinking - oh my, I am going to be Hestia's servant for one month.

With that, Freya went to the bath. This time she really wanted to win. To get a rise, her towel dropped when their eyes met. The beautiful goddess refused to lose.

Freya "Bell, I will wash you first"

Knowing the goddess wants to regain the upper hand, Bell allowed her to take her best shot. The washing was thorough and deliberate, but Bell held tight to his control with clenched fists. While his heart raced, he only thought of his promise to Ais to keep the faith. While the service went on and on, Bell still kept his wits. Seeing that Bell maintained control, Freya was desperately trying to find a way to score. However, after the service was done, it was clear Bell won. It was then Freya's turn to be washed. She held her head up high as the washing proceeded. Just like Bell, she fought with all her will. As Freya held on tight to the railings, the hero showed her what he learned from the morning. After a few minutes, Freya was beaten. She again closed her eyes and turned around, prompting an even more thorough washing. Realizing victory was decided, Freya finally let go and enjoyed the washing. By the end, Bell had to carry the exhausted Freya again to her bed.

After getting dressed, Bell enjoyed the view of Orario from her balcony. As he sipped a cup of tea, he quietly savored his victory. He beat Freya in her own battlefield. Zeus was also congratulating him in his head, calling him "champ", while Hestia was saying "I created a monster".

It was then time for dinner. In a small restaurant in the far side of town, Freya and Bell enjoyed an amazing meal. Freya did not say a lot, but she wanted to know more about Bell's grandfather. Bell then told her about how they lived together, the cooking, the laughter, all the books, all the happiness, more about how to be a hero,... This all convinced Freya there was more to Bell's grandfather.

Freya "What do you know about Zeus"

Bell "I know the Zeus familia and the Hera familia were the most powerful until they were defeated by the Black Dragon"

Freya "Did your grandfather tell you much about Zeus"

Bell "No, that never came up"

Freya "How about the Black Dragon"

Bell "Not more than what was in the books"

Freya "Who told you about Zeus"

Bell "Hermes told me about Zeus and the battle with the Black Dragon"

Freya was then satisfied, and the person to interrogate is Hermes. After dinner was dancing, making everyone in the restaurant green with envy. However, with a new air of confidence, Bell handled the dances well, making everyone even more jealous. After dinner, it was time for a soak in the hot tub.

Freya wanted to give it one more try, as she started washing Bell. Though Bell had the upper hand with Liaris Freese on his side, Freya tried hard and then tried even harder. However, Bell maintained his composure. Unable to get a rise in Bell, Freya had to endure her turn on being washed. Freya bravely tried to withstand the onslaught, but again gave in after a few minutes. She screamed like a schoolgirl as Bell continued his service. Confident with his abilities, Bell allowed Freya sometime to regain her composure, and then it was yet another round. After submission into bliss, Bell allowed her more time to try again. Yet again, her charm powers failed to overcome Liaris Freese. With yet another defeat, Bell became naughty and gave her a lap pillow. Determined to try again, Freya eventually got up and attempted more. As Bell became amused by her stubbornness, it simply made Freya want to win even more. Allowing Freya another try with a handicap, Bell relaxed and closed his eyes. While the experience was enjoyable, Freya was simply unable to break through. After giving her enough time, Bell again washed Freya but this time with no mercy, leaving her attendants outside the bathroom unsure whether to assist or just continue to grin and bear it.

As the titanic battles continued for hours, it was getting late. Despite Freya's endurance and strength of character, Bell had simply surpassed her. Freya even considered releasing her divine powers to get an advantage but she had too much pride to do so. To leave no doubt, Bell continued while she begged for mercy. In the end, Freya was exhausted and literally fell asleep as he carried her off to her bed again. Satisfied that the battle was won definitively, Bell went off to his guest room to sleep. He was tired from the battles but quite pleased about the results.

The next morning, Freya and Bell had breakfast and she thanked him for spending the day with her. She was embarrassed about her defeat but realized that Bell is now the champion. When Bell got back to the Hestia home, Hestia and Ais were waiting eagerly. Bell happily walked in and the two gals checked him out carefully. That night, Ais received the same washing that defeated Freya. While enjoyable, it made her wonder what went on at the Freya mansion.

 **Chapter 25 - History**

Another meeting was arranged with the Xenos at the Babel's dungeon entrance. With the Ganesha members sealing off the area, the meeting started early in the morning to minimize disruptions to commerce. With the latest information being no signs of Revis or demi spirits, the discussion centered on what to do.

Finn "We want to rotate teams on the 18th floor to prevent an attack. It would help us if you were willing to move to the floor, and it would also be safer for you"

Lyd "I dont mind moving, but how long is this high alert going to last?"

Loki "We do not know. As far as I am concerned, the situation will last as long as the threat has not been eliminated"

Asterius "I would like to fight, but the enemy is hiding"

Ganesha "6 demi spirits would be an enormous force, but we can beat them together"

Gros "They can have more than 6, right?"

Hermes "We do not know how many. But if I have to guess, they are starting with at least 6"

Riveria "We will be making a deep level mission every month, and your participation would help."

Asterius "How deep would you go"

Freya "At least to the 60th floor, may be deeper to the 80th floor"

Finn "We do not want them to restart their farming"

Lyd "We could participate in such a common defense situation"

Gros "How are we going to prevent fights with Rivira and other residents"

Ganesha "The guild is going to officially recognize the Xenos, and we are going to declare a truce"

Lyd "Wow, I never thought I would see the day"

After the agreement, a lot of work was needed. The guild called a meeting requiring the attendance of all adventurers. In the meeting, many were shocked at the idea of intelligent monsters though there were rumors of such. After the threat of Revis and Enyo was made public, there were many calls for a mission to wipe them out. However, with the constraints on resources, no one had a better idea than the 'containment' strategy. There was a sense of panic when told that even the combined forces of all the 1st class adventurers could not accomplish such a mission. For the public, the idea of the jewel fetuses was very unnerving, but again there was no solution beyond the containment strategy. When told of the truce with the Xenos, the adventurers and Rivira residents asked "how are you supposed to tell a normal monster from a Xenos". The public was told that the details would be worked out with the Xenos, but that there will be safe zones for the Xenos including their villages.


	12. Chapters 26 to 28

**Chapter 26 - Containment**

Everyone started putting the containment strategy in action:

1\. Most of the Xenos moved to the 18th floor though small villages remained on the 25th, 26th and 27th floors. This was completed within 2 weeks.

2\. Rivira residents and adventurers were reminded about the truce and advised of the Xenos village locations.

3\. The Xeno would wear a Xenos band so there would be no confusion of who they are.

4\. The Hephaestus familia installed large metal nets to cover the vertical holes in the level. This made the 17th floor entrance, the 19th floor entrance and the Knossos entrance the only viable entrances. This was completed within 2 weeks.

5\. The Hephaestus familia built metal gates to control entry at the 3 entrances. These were completed within 2 weeks.

6\. They built a small building to serve as the patrol team's sleeping quarters near the 19th floor entrance. The building had walls lined with Obsidian Soldiers' body stones like the Knossos walls, providing protection from magic. The building was completed in 1 month, though the body stones took a while to procure and install.

7\. Only 1 surface entrance to the Knossos was left opened, with Gareth and construction workers collapsing the remaining. Several sets of metal gates were added to the remaining entrance to restrict its use to emergencies.

While this was being set up, the Loki executives, Bell, Ottar, Allen, Haruhime, Welf and the Xenos went to get Marie. With Marie's help, they found the 25th floor water passageway that led to Melen. Tiona and Tione then dove to check out the water passageway. With a week of hard work by Gareth, Tiona and Tione, obstructions were added to make it difficult for a larger monster to pass through. The team would check with Marie weekly on the status of the passageway.

The patrols then began immediately with the major familias taking turns. Every month, the Loki execs and Bell would spend a week patrolling, then they are relieved by the Freya execs for a week, then by the Ganesha execs for a 3rd week, and then by Asfi, Ryuu, Aisha, Tsubaki, Filvis and a couple Ganesha execs. A deep level expedition would take place on the 4th week of each month. Combined with Ouranos' monitoring, the security should be much improved.

Bell and Ais were in the 1st patrol with the Loki execs. Welf and Haruhime also went along. In addition to security for the entrances, there were hourly inspections of the vertical holes and all the entrances. When not patrolling, they trained. The Xenos often trained with them, and were surprised how strong Bell had become.

When Ais and Bell had some free time, they went to take a bath at the same location where the peeking happened. As they bathe, Tiona and Tione jumped into the water.

Ais "What are you doing!"

Tiona winked "We want to share in the fun. Don't hog argonaut-kun to yourself! We want the fabulous washing service also lol"

Tione with evil grin "Argonaut, give us some of that love!"

The tomato-faced Bell started having a stupid smile with 3-girl thoughts, which got Ais furious.

Angry Ais wanted revenge "Bell, pee on them! spray them! use argonaut for extended range!"

As Bell dutifully started taking aim, the frightened amazonesses ran for their life...

Tiona "Ahhhhhh, what kind of sis is that?"

Tione "Ais, how could you?"

Bell, Ais, Finn, Riveria, Haruhime and Welf also conducted a 2-day patrol to the 37th floor that would be performed weekly. They encountered the typical monsters, but there were no irregular sightings. It was also far too early for Udaeus to spawn, though Bell was still hoping because the hero strike on Revis consumed one of the 2 swords made from Udaeus' sword.

Overall, the first week of patrols went by quickly without issues, and then the Freya familia came to relieve them.

Ottar "Ok, you can go home now"

Finn "Thank you Ottar. The new place is not bad"

Riveria "And they bring down some good food regularly"

Bell "Yes it is like a camping trip"

Ottar "Alright, we will see you in a couple weeks for the deep level expedition"

After returning home, Hestia's updating did not reveal anything unusual.

 **Chapter 27 - Living in the New Reality**

While the farming levels were burnt down, the enemy's intent was clear. The containment strategy protected against many bad scenarios, but no one knew what the enemy had up their sleeve. Bell and his familia had more responsibilities in the containment scheme, but they still had time to have some fun and do some adventuring. So a short expedition was planned for a week after returning from the patrol duty.

In the meantime, Bell, Haruhime and Welf went to practice daily at the Loki home. For sparring, Bell has been getting the upper hand on almost everyone even when they had the boosting advantage. The only exception is Ais when boosted and using ariel.

A couple days later, Hestia went to view Bell's performance. When she arrived, Bell and Bete were starting to battle. Without boosting, Bell was quickly pushing Bete, who went for a desperate attack that was parried by Bell. In Bell's counter-attack, he accidentally knocked out Bete. While Tiona attended to Bete, Finn was up next. Just like Bete, Finn was overmatched. When Finn was boosted, it was a closer match, but Bell still had a slight advantage. Watching the sparring, Hestia finally realized how far Bell has progressed and was quite pleased. She noticed how his argonaut assisted techniques improved both his speed and power. When Loki came to watch the training, they started chatting.

Hestia "I did not realize Bell has improved this much"

Loki "Bell is amazing. He fights like a level 7 even though he is level 6. Ais is the only one who can fight pretty evenly when she uses ariel, and that is only when she is boosted."

Hestia "Does Ottar come by for sparring practice?"

Loki "He does, may be twice a week"

Hestia "How well matched are they?"

Loki "Very, but I would say Bell is gaining on everyone including Ottar"

With that information, Hestia had an evil grin thinking about Freya as a servant"

Loki "What are you going to do if you win the wager?"

Hestia "I have not thought that far, but I figure Freya would look good in a maid uniform"

Loki "Oh, this is not going to end well... though I want to see it"

Hestia "That is a deal"

As Bell and Ais were done sparring, they went for a bath. Afterwards, they came back walking and holding hands. As Loki and Hestia watched, Ais sat on Bell's lap like a happy little princess. Hestia's face turned green but she kept her composure.

Loki "Your horns are showing lol"

Hestia "I want Bell to be happy"

Loki winked "May be you can join in the fun? Just beg a little?"

Hestia jumped on Loki and they had their cat fight that both missed so much.

Bell and Ais decided to go for dinner. As they walked through town, there were a lot of curious looks. There were many rumors swirling about Bell. About Ais the pretty princess, about Freya the mesmerizing goddess, about Hestia the cute loli. The rabbit appeared to be getting all the hot girls. Noticing the curious glances, Bell wondered if it was more dangerous in the dungeon as they arrived. They were eating at the Hostess of Fertility.

Mia "Bell and Ais, welcome"

Jealous Syr "Hi Bell, hi sword princess. Bell, how are you?"

Bell "I am good. Just practicing hard"

Syr "You need to come by more often. I miss the lap pillow"

Ais was surprised and Bell was embarrassed...

Bell "Oh..."

Ais "Bell, I want a lap pillow after the bath"

Tomato-faced Bell "Ais..."

Syr "Bell, I like baths too"

Bell "Syr that is nice"

Ais "Bell, I want more pampering today"

Bell "Ais, ok"

Seeing the tension and the sweating Bell, Ryuu came by to see what they wanted to eat. The green eyed Syr was annoyed but kept her cool. After the food was order, Ais and Bell had some time to themselves.

Ais "Bell, do you give all girls lap pillows?"

Bell "Oh no"

Ais "Everyone wants Bell's lap pillow"

Bell "Ais, I have friends"

Ais "Bell, am I your friend?"

Bell "Of course, oh no, you are my girlfriend and my friend"

Ais "I want all your lap pillows"

Bell "Ok Ais"

At that point, dinner came. Although Syr wanted to go back to the table, she was mugged by Ryuu who knew it would be big trouble.

 **Chapter 28 - A Short Adventure**

The week quickly passed, and it was time for the short expedition. The entire Hestia familias went down. Ais went along as well as Tiona with the Haruhime protection rules. In the early levels, the junior adventurers did all the fighting, while Bell and Ais got to watch and held hands like a couple teenagers on a movie date. As they walked hand-in-hand, Tiona tried to jump in and get some of that love. For a while, a level 6-on-level 6 battle was in the cards...

It was good for Welf, Mikoto, Haruhime and Lili to be in more battles. This was particularly important for Lili who is the only remaining level 1 in the familia. While Haruhime got a lot of experience from leveling everyone in the deep level missions, Lili was left out. Now Lili shot her arrows, Welf swung his sword, Mikoto swung her swords, and Haruhime supported with leveling when needed. So the goblins were slain, lizards chopped, frogs skewered, war shadows lit up, ants exterminated. On the 10th floor, a group of orcs gave them quite a battle, and Haruhime leveled them up as the battles were close. When they reached the 11th floor, they joined in a battle with the floor boss infant dragon. The battle was even, and Bell almost jumped in. However, Haruhime leveled them up, and Welf and Mikoto dealt the finishing blows. When the reached the 13th floor, the battles were getting more and more intense. Welf fought the hell hound attacks with will-o-wisp. Although he was stronger than the time when they were pass-paraded, it was tiring so Bell and Ais went in to give them a 1 hour rest.

After their rest, it was onward towards the 18th floor, the target for the day. When they reached the 15th floor, they encountered a minotaur. Welf and Mikoto took the lead in the battle as Lili's arrows could not even penetrate the thick skin. They tried sword battle and gave the mino a good fight. Mikoto then used Futsunomitama while Welf kept the monster busy. After crushing the mino with heavy gravity, the two combined their efforts to slain the monster. After some other battles, they reached the 17th floor. The goliath was not due to spawn, so it was just fighting more and more monsters. They did run into several minotaurs, which required some assistance from Bell. As Bell kept them busy, Mikoto used Futsunomitama to crush all of the monsters. She had to time it perfectly so Bell did not get trapped also. After some serious squeezing, Welf and Mikoto went to finish them off. Then finally, they arrived on the 18th floor.

It was evening, so everyone was hungry. They had a good meal, and then checked in with the Ganesha members in charge of guard duty for the week. Afterwards, they camped out near Rivira for the night, which was rather peaceful.

Lili "Wow, Bell and Ais' tents are right next to each other"

Haruhime "Do you think ?"

Welf "We better not, they could crush us"

Tiona winked "I will protect you"

Haruhime "But there is one of you and two of them"

Tiona "Dont worry, I will take the blame"

Embolden by Tiona, the junior Hestia members opened Bell's tent, but there was no one there.

Harhime and Lili "OMG"

Welf "Now we are in dangerous territory"

Lili "Wait, what is our endgame?"

Haruhime "True, we could enjoy our teasing without invading Ais' tent. We could just take down Bell's tent so it would be obvious what happened"

Tiona "Cowards..."

Welf "Yes, I am afraid of what is going on inside the tent"

Lili "Those visions could damage my eyes"

Mikoto "I definitely do not want to see much skin"

So the cautious members took down the tent while everyone took their turn on watch. The next morning, Ais and Bell woke up late, and everyone was waiting for them with evil smirks on their faces.

Bell "Good morning"

Ais "Good morning"

Lili "Hope you slept well"

Bell "Very"

Welf with evil grin "Really, you got some sleep?"

Bell "Sure, why"

Lili "Bell, you look a little tired.?"

Ais then realized Bell's tent is missing. As she pulled on Bell's elbow, Bell finally realized they were exposed. The embarrassed Bell and Ais finally asked for their tent.

Lili "Tent, did you bring a tent down?"

Tomato-faced Bell "Yes"

Haruhime "But did you not just get up?"

Tomato-faced Bell "Yes"

Welf "So why are you asking us?"

Tomato-faced Ais "Come on, dont tease us like that"

Welf to Lili "Actually I did not sleep well last night, there were too many animal noises"

Tiona "Yea, I heard some loud noises too, but did you hear someone giggling?"

Lili "Haruhime, were you giggling?"

Haruhime "No, you were probably giggling yourself"

Lili "No, I was not giggling"

Welf "Giggling, must have been fun"

That was the last straw, as Bell and Ais beat up all of them. After being hung upside for 10 minutes, mercy was shown but Bell had to recover his tent first. As they ate breakfast, Welf was still complaining about the beating and Lili about her ears being squeezed during the punishment.

After breakfast, they went and inspected all the entrances before heading to the 19th floor.

Lili "Wow, the Ganesha familia is taking the guard duty seriously"

Welf "No kidding, I am not sure they will let us back through those gates"

At that point, a pair of firebirds attacked, but Lili responded with her arrow. After taking out the birds, they continued on but the number of encounters was increasing. This forced Haruhime to boost them up again while Tiona gave Haruhime a piggyback ride. The boost was very helpful and allowed them to fend mostly for themselves. After a couple hours, they finally reached the 25th floor, their target floor for the trip. They found Marie who was so happy to see Bell, making Ais jealous.

Marie "Bell, you came to visit me"

Bell "Yes, how have you been?"

Marie "After you left, the Freya members visited me also, but they are scary"

Bell "Dont worry, Ottar will take care of things"

Marie "Yes, he did"

Bell "Has there been any trouble or anything unusual?"

Marie "Not really. There were some adventurers but they did not cause any trouble. It seemed like they were eager to head to the lower floors"

Bell "Really, do you know where they are from?"

Marie "No, they saw me but did not do anything scary"

As they chatted, the rest of the team took a quick look around the water city. Everything was relatively calm. Having reached their goal and checked on Marie, they headed back up the floors.

There was a big battle with a large number of hornets, which again forced Haruhime to boost everyone's level. Welf an Mikoto did score a couple kills, but Bell and Ais jumped in when the number of hornets was getting overwhelming. By the end of the day, they returned to the 18th floor, where they spent the night. The next morning, they headed back up to the surface.


	13. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29 - Deep Level Trip**

After returning from the dungeon, the Hestia familia helped Bell, Welf and Haruhime prepare for the monthly deep level trip. Potions, food and various items had to be procured and packed. Welf also checked on the armor and weapons, while Bell went to meet with the Loki executives to coordinate timing.

On the day of the trip, everyone gathered in front of the Babel. There was a big sendoff and the spirits were high. The huge group of advanced adventurers had no delays reaching Rivira, where they had lunch. They met the Asterius, Lyd and Gros at the entrance to 19th floor, so the group was even larger. The remaining Xenos and a few members of the Ganesha familia guarded the entrance during the deep level trip.

The 1st destination was Marie on the 27th floor. They got there and found Marie who reported that not much has happened. Tiona and Tione went with Marie to check on the blocked waterway, and it was still blocked. Deciding this was a good time to stop, they rested for the night and the night was uneventful.

The goal the next day was to do a check on the labyrinth levels and then survey the first few levels where farming was taking place. The team reached the 50th level for a late lunch without much trouble. After lunch, the labyrinth floors had no dragon strikes, so the virgas were probably back on the 58th floor.

On the following day, the team headed down the labyrinth, with the vanguard taking care of the virgas and other monsters along the way. Joining the vanguard was Asterius who wanted in on the battles. They quickly reached the 58th floor, which did not change much. There were about 20 virgas, so the fighters cut those down instead of using magic. At that point, the Xenos would remain based on the 58th floor with short patrols down to the 60th floor. The other teams would remain in communication by occulus with Fels, who would stay with the Xenos.

The team continued to head down quickly as there were less encounters than before. When they reached the 70th floor, the smaller team separated off as the main force headed to the 71st floor. The 71st floor still had no farming, but had its fair share of monsters including virgas. Conserving magic when possible, the main fighters cut down the monsters as they explored the floor. There were only a small number of violas and no viscum on the floor. After finding the likely entrance for the 72nd floor, the invisible Asfi did a quick scouting trip.

The 72nd floor was similar to the 71st floor. The fighters battled a reasonable number of monsters, but there were no viscums or anything unusual. By that time, it was getting late so they contacted the smaller team to meet on the 65th floor. Fels also reported that nothing unusual on the 58th floor, so apparently no trap had sprung at this point.

The next morning, the main team again headed back down, and started exploring the 73rd floor, which was similar to the 71st and 72nd. The expansion of the known territory went on until they reached the 80th floor with no sign of Revis, viscums, demi spirits or anything unusual. Then the team realized it was again stretched too thin and a new plan was needed.

Finn "Stalemate"

Riveria "We dont know how deep this goes"

Bell "What could they be planning"

Ais "We dont know and we will just have to keep going down to find out"

Finn "It may be a trap, or they are licking their wounds"

Riveria "Or they are building a different kind of army"

Gareth "For all we know, they are digging a different exit out of the dungeon"

They headed back up to meet with the smaller team on the 70th level to spend the night. The next morning, they went back up to the 58th floor. Meeting together with Fels and the Xenos, they decided a new strategy was needed. The Xenos thus headed back to their villages, while the team headed back to the surface. Two days later, they were home.

There will be a meeting to discuss what to do. A stalemate is not really acceptable.


End file.
